Verstappen Takes Victory from P2 on the Grid

Saturday saw Brit Lando Norris take pole position – less than a tenth in front of Verstappen. The Mercedes duo locked out the second row, with the seven-time World Champion only just qualifying in front of his teammate George Russell – just 2 thousands of a second separating them.

Before lights went out there was one change to the starting grid with Williams opting to change power unit elements on Alex Albon’s car following qualifying – where he’d ended up P19. This lead to him starting from the pit lane.

When the tyre blankets came off, it was revealed that all drivers, except for Albon, had opted to start on the red-marked soft tyre. At the front, Verstappen opted to begin on used softs despite having a fresh set available, wheras Norris and Ferrari went for the fresh soft rubber. The Mercedes pair both began on used sets.

As the lights went out, the action began with Russell fighting for P1 going into Turn 1. With Norris getting a good start and attempting to squeeze Verstappen alongside him, the Mercedes man powered through around the outside and launched himself into the lead of the race.

Norris’ move didn’t leave Verstappen too happy – the three-time World Champion protesting “I got pushed onto the grass” down the radio. However, the stewards took no further action after initially reviewing the incident.

Russell’s team mate Hamilton didn’t have the best start, initially losing out to Leclerc, but he managed to regain his spot to slot into fourth in the order. Alonso, starting 11th in his Aston Martin dropped back after he was seemingly tagged from behind and was forced to take to the escape road at Turn 1, leaving him down in 14th.

Despite Russell’s mega start, his lead of the race wouldn’t last long as Verstappen powered past on the outside of Turn 1 on the third lap courtesy of having DRS and the tow.

Behind them, home favourite Sainz would also make a move on his team mate Leclerc at the same turn, the two Ferraris appearing to touch as the Spaniard was also forced to use the escape road. However, he made his move up to P5 stick. The stewards had a quick look at if he had left the track and gained an advantage. No further investigation was deemed necessary.

As the race entered Lap 13, Race Control had noted the Haas of Magnussen for a potential false start. A five-second penalty would soon be coming his way. Verstappen very nearly had a big moment at Turn 7 – but the Red Bull man managed to prevent any disaster.

The first round of pit stops then got under way, the Red Bull of Perez one notable stopper on Lap 13 as the Mexican attempted to undo damage from his three-place grid penalty picked up in Canada. The Alpine of Pierre Gasly, however, didn’t have the ideal stop which lasted 6.7 seconds thanks to a sticky rear tyre. He dropped behind his team mate and ruined much of the good work he had done in the early stages of the race.

At the front of the order, Russell would make his own first trip to the pits on Lap 15, managing to stay ahead of the similarly stopping Sainz despite being hindered by a slow stop of 5.3 seconds. There were no such issues for Verstappen as he pulled in on Lap 17, only stationary for 1.9 seconds as Norris assumed the lead of the race.

As the Grand Prix moved onto Lap 18, Hamilton was soon in a battle with Sainz for sixth position. With DRS assisting him, the Mercedes driver made his move going into Turn 1 of the next lap with the pair dramatically touching. “He touched me and ran me off!” exclaimed Sainz over the radio. “He needs to let me by.” Despite the protestations from the Ferrari driver, no further investigation was warranted over their clash.

With Norris making his stop from the lead on Lap 24, and the majority of the field now on mediums, the race then approached its halfway point with Verstappen leading Russell, Norris, Hamilton and Sainz as the top five – the McLaren racer having made a move on Hamilton on Lap 32.

Leclerc, in P6, appeared discouraged as he questioned his team’s strategy, asking why they were on ‘Plan A’.

With the drivers heading onto Lap 34, Verstappen was looking confident, building up a lead of more than eight seconds to Russell in second place. Norris was focused on chasing down the young Mercedes driver and embarked on an almighty battle from Turn 3 to Turn 7 of Lap 35 with his fellow Brit.

Norris managed to make his move stick following the back and forth as he made second his own, while Hamilton was now right on the tail of his team mate before Russell dove into the pits for the second time – hards subsequently going onto his car.

As the race hit Lap 41, Verstappen’s lead had dimished slightly (to 5.9s) as Norris attempted to eat into the advantage with Red Bull yet to call in their man for his second stop. Verstappen still had a fresh set of soft tyres to use.

Russell on the hard tyre complained down the radio about sliding around, lamenting that his tyres did “not feel good” – with Hamilton promptly pitting shortly afterwards to put on softs.

Verstappen then followed suit into the pit lane. Norris – staying out and now in the lead – was immediately told by his race engineer Will Joseph “this is our chance now” in his bid for Spanish Grand Prix victory.

With 20 laps remaining, Hamilton was all over Sainz in the battle for sixth place, eventually getting it done once again into Turn 1, before Norris was ordered to box on the following lap. However, the McLaren man’s stop of 3.6 seconds meant he lost valuable time as Verstappen reassumed control of the race, while Norris would just stay ahead of Russell to keep hold of second.

Lower down the order, 11th-placed Hulkenberg’s hopes of breaking into the points-paying positions suffered a blow as he was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. The Alpines of Gasly and Ocon were holding onto 9th and 10th as the team’s hopes for another double points finish continued to grow.

Tsunoda, running in a lowly last place, was also hit with a five-second penalty of his own for the same offence as Hulkenberg.

With the race entering its closing stages, Verstappen was being forced to push hard as Norris gradually ate away at a lead that, on Lap 51, stood at 6.6s.

But despite the gap between the front two coming down, Norris was running out of laps if he was to secure his second Grand Prix success of his career. By the time Lap 65 came about the gap was down to just 2.3 seconds.

That margin was where it stayed as Verstappen held off the Norris challenge to secure his third successive victory at the track in Barcelona – and eight years on from his breakthrough win here in 2016.

Lower down the order there was also more success for Red Bull as the three-stopping Perez managed to execute a late pass on Gasly at Turn 1 to take eighth place, with every point likely to prove crucial in the constructors’ battle.

Despite winning Driver of the Day, Norris was left evidently demoralised as he crossed the line, admitting over his radio that messing up the start had cost him a chance of victory today.

Here is the final race classification:

Verstappen

Norris (Fastest Lap and DOTD)

Hamilton

Russell

Leclerc

Sainz

Piastri

Perez

Gasly

Ocon

Hulkenberg

Alonso

Zhou

Stroll

Ricciardo

Bottas

Magnussen

Albon

Tsunoda

Sargeant

Let’s see what our winner had to say about the race: "I think what made the race was the beginning," said Verstappen after hopping out of his RB20. "I took the lead on Lap 2, and that's where I had my buffer, then in that first stint where I could eke out that gap a little bit. I think after that, we had to drive quite a defensive race, you know? Lando and McLaren, they were very, very quick today, especially on deg. It seems always the last few laps of the stint, they were very, very fast. But then I think we did everything well, we drove quite an aggressive strategy, but luckily it paid out until the end. It was quite close until the end but very happy to win here."

Next week, Formula 1 heads to Red Bull’s home turf. Can Verstappen and Perez pull off something great for the team? We shall see…