Oscar Piastri dominated, Max imploded, and McLaren looked fast. Spain was hot — in more ways than one.

Barcelona brought the heat (literally and figuratively). This episode covers McLaren’s flawless one-two finish, Verstappen’s strategy gone sideways, celebrity sightings in the paddock, and how the championship battle just got spicier. We’re talking penalties, purple sectors, and a little bit of pit-lane gossip.

You’ll hear:

• Who nailed the start
• Who lost the plot
• Who aced the race

Chapters in todays episode are:

• Race Recap
• Sector Three Showdown
• Fan Flags
• Celebrity Spotlight
• Virtual Safetea

And finally, I want to hear some predictions from you...for the Canada Grand Prix 2025...

1) Who will be pole position in qualifying?

2) Which trio will be the podium winners for the race?

3) Will there be a safety car deployed?

Buckle up, hydrate, and let’s spill the non-telemetry tea.

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome back to Trackside Tea, your go to for all the F1 drama, fashion, and flair.

Hi, |I'm Rebecca. And today, we're unpacking the sizzling action from the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit De Barcelona, Catalunya. Did I just say that right? I think I just said that right.

Sorry if I didn't, but I think I did.

This was a good race to watch. So much going on and so much to talk about. Drama, celebrities, Fernando Alonso, and, yeah, Max Verstappen. Awkward!

So let's start with a small bit of race recap and McLaren's dominance.

So spoiler alert, if you haven't seen any of this year's races, if you haven't, where have you been?

Oscar Piastri nabbed his 5th win of the season, which gave McLaren a one two finish alongside his teammate Lando Norris. Quite frankly to me, it looked like Oscar had a pretty flawless drive. He started on pole position, and he managed to carry on and win the race.

And it was quite a fair margin between him and Lando too, so, you know, good on Oscar. I am not a strategy person. I would make that clear. But this did seem to showcase McLaren's superior strategy with their tyre management in the crazy heat.

While we're on the track of heat, someone who well and truly lost their cool is Max Verstappen.

So a spot a sector three showdown here, which was truly chaotic for Max and a massive game changer.

I mean, he's known for his strong personality and willpower, but it seems one thing after another for Max in Spain. Stopping for one of his pit stops around lap 48, which already seemed a lot of pit stops for him. He came back onto the track from the pit lane with his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, right in front of him. Now he was a lap behind so needed to move aside so Max could get past, but didn't seem to move quite as quick as he probably should have done.

And Max was then caught up behind him and lost a bit of time. Number one strike for Max.

The next bit of bad luck was when Lando and Max were caught behind a little battle between Liam Lawson and Ollie Bearman as they were jostling for places in their own little race, costing Max more time and to shout out on the radio, "IDIOTS!"

It doesn't end there, folks. Poor Kimi Antonelli's trundled into the gravel with a mechanical failure, which caused the ever anticipated safety car. So a lot of people dropped into the pits with this opportunity as did Max, and he ended up on hard tyres apparently because it's the only ones he had left, and he was the only driver to use them, a little bit on the crazy side.

Max even said on the radio, "Why the have we **** have we? What is this tyre?" I would have thought it'd be...