How do the teams' championship standings look like after the Spanish Grand Prix?
McLaren comfortably lead the teams' standings after nine races into the season, but Ferrari's current form enabled the Italian outfit to jump to second place ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull. F1Technical's lead journalist Balazs Szabo analyses how the constructors' championship looks like after the Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren have been the dominant force since the start of season. Although the governing body introduced a technical directive at the Spanish Grand Prix that had been expected to lead to changes to the pecking order, the papaya team ruled last time out at Barcelona.
The Woking-based squad locked out the front row for the Spanish Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastri having headed his team-mate Lando Norris in qualifying. The papaya team had been expected to displayed an even more dominant performance in a race given the high ambient and track temperatures.
Although the first stint indicated that the 66-lap Barcelona round would be a a straightforward race for McLaren, Red Bull put Max Verstappen on a three-stop strategy. With the Dutchman having displayed eye-catching pace through his second stint, McLaren were forced to ask their drivers to pick up the pace in order to cover Verstappen.
While Piastri built up a healthy gap, Norris had to work a little harder in the early stages as he fell behind Verstappen at the start. However, once he made his way past the reigning champion, he looked to control the gap even when Verstappen closed up in the late pit stops.
When the late Safety Car came out, Piastri and Norris had to defend at the restart, but they were able to escape from their rivals, with Piastri winning the Spanish Grand Prix from his team-mate Norris.
McLaren now find themselves comfortable on top of the teams' standings, having collected a total of 362 points so far. Interestingly, their closest challengers are Ferrari.
The Scuderia endured a shocking start to their campaign as their SF-25 simply lacked outright pace in qualifying which had been completely unexpected after their impressive form in the second half of last season.
However, the Maranello-based outfit displayed eye-catching race pace at Imola before challenging for victory at Monte Carlo. Although the team lacked one-lap pace in qualifying at Barcelona once again, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were competitive at the 66-lap race.
Mercedes started the season in fine form, but their struggles in hot conditions and power unit-related issues saw the Brackley-based outfit drop down the order. The German-British outfit is currently third in the standings, followed by Red Bull.
Williams were languishing at the bottom end of the teams' standings for a few seasons in recent years, but the Grove-based squad has made huge inroads recently. The British team is currently fifth in the standings, sitting on 54 points ahead of Racing Bulls and Haas.
There is a fierce battle between Sauber, Aston Martin and Alpine. The Swiss team collected a good haul of points last time out at Barcelona courtesy of Nico Hulkenberg's fifth-place finish at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Aston Martin has the same amount of points (16) as Sauber while Alpine is currently last, having collected only 11 points despite some strong drives from Pierre Gasly.
