Verstappen Holds Off McLarens and Secures His 64th Career Win!
Max Verstappen managed to fend off both McLaren drivers in a race with relatively little on-track action, leaving us waiting to see if Lando Norris could close within a second of the Red Bull driver.
The Dutchman capitalized on a strong qualifying performance yesterday to control the race from the front, never cracking under pressure from McLaren’s Norris and Oscar Piastri, who failed to find an opportunity to overtake.
In the opening laps, Verstappen built a lead of more than two seconds over Norris, neutralizing the early threat posed by the DRS. He also didn’t fall for McLaren’s attempt to trick him with a fake pit stop call when engineer Will Joseph suggested Norris might pit “to overtake,” although Norris eventually stayed out.
McLaren tried to provoke a response by calling Piastri into the pits at the end of lap 20, to which Verstappen reacted by pitting as well. However, Norris followed him into the pits in the same lap. The McLaren team was a second quicker than Red Bull in the pit stops, which leveled Verstappen and Norris when they rejoined the track. But Norris was forced to cut across the grass as he didn’t have enough space to exit alongside Verstappen.
His attempt to bring the issue to the stewards’ attention via radio was dismissed, and his only remaining hope of securing a second win in 2025 was an on-track overtake.
However, in the following 30 laps, Norris couldn’t close the gap to Verstappen’s DRS zone and could only match the Red Bull driver’s pace. This put McLaren in a tricky spot as Piastri was driving closer than a second behind Norris and requested a position swap.
Despite Piastri’s superior pace, McLaren chose not to swap the drivers, allowing Verstappen to cruise to a calm finish at the front without the need for active defense. Both McLaren drivers stayed behind the four-time champion on the podium.
Charles Leclerc secured fourth place, holding onto his starting position ahead of Mercedes’ duo. Although George Russell, who had pitted earlier, closed the gap to 1.2 seconds, he couldn’t reduce the distance any further, despite earlier pressure. Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished sixth, benefiting from a long stint on medium-hard tires, finishing 1.3 seconds ahead of his more experienced teammate.
Lewis Hamilton’s alternate strategy, starting on hard tires, paid off partially as he finished in seventh place, passing rookie Isack Hadjar, who earned his first-ever F1 points by finishing eighth.
A frustrated Alex Albon finished ninth despite radio complaints to his Williams team about his gearbox and pit stop timing. Haas driver Oliver Bearman took the final point ahead of Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s rookie Yuki Tsunoda. Liam Lawson finished 17th in his return for Racing Bulls.
All 20 drivers completed the race, but aside from Verstappen’s perfect weekend, this race will likely not be one we remember for long. Fortunately, the next race is just around the corner, with the Bahrain Grand Prix scheduled in just five days.
