Cloudy. Dry. Air +24C, highway +42C
When the winter tests were held in Barcelona and the fifth stage took place there, it suited the teams well. After collecting information from tests and assessing the car’s behavior during the first races, they prepared a large-scale update for the Spanish stage, comparing the impact on efficiency with the original data.
Now the tests are taking place in Bahrain and the Spanish Grand Prix has become the tenth stage on the calendar. The teams have already updated their cars several times, but still almost all of them brought new products to Barcelona – to the best track in terms of a comprehensive assessment of all qualities.
The Spanish stage opened a series of three Grand Prix in a row, where a successful update at the beginning could seriously influence the balance of power at the end.
Compared to last year, the balance of power has already changed. In 2023, Verstappen led in all sessions of the weekend, but this time in none. Hamilton showed the best time on Friday, Sainz on Saturday morning and Norris won qualifying.
Norris and Verstappen started the race from the front row of the starting field, Hamilton and Russell from second, Leclerc and Sainz from third. Perez lost three places due to the incident in Canada and started eleventh. Sargent received a similar penalty in Barcelona, but lost nothing – he qualified last anyway. Albon started from the pit lane – his energy storage device and control electronics were replaced.
Pirelli traditionally brought hard tires to Barcelona – compounds C1, C2 and C3 in Hard, Medium and Soft roles. For the first part of the race, Albon chose Medium, the rest started on Soft.
At the start, Norris and Verstappen battled for the lead, taking advantage of the situation. Russell was ahead of both and leading the race. Verstappen moved up to second place, Norris dropped to third.
Magnussen made a false start and received a 5-second time penalty.
Alonso almost lost his car in the first corner and was forced to leave the track.
Hulkenberg gained three positions, Alonso lost two.
Top ten in round 2: Russell – Verstappen – Norris – Hamilton – Leclerc – Sainz – Gasly – Piastri – Ocon – Hulkenberg.
On the third lap, Verstappen passed Russell for first place and was able to pull away.
In the battle between Leclerc and Sainz there was contact, after which Carlos took the lead.
On lap 8, Stroll and Bottas passed Alonso, who dropped to 14th.
On the 10th lap, Zhou and Tsunoda changed tires, on the 11th – Magnussen, on the 12th – Bottas, on the 13th – Hulkenberg.
On lap 13, Verstappen almost spun out in turn seven, but retained control of the car.
On the 14th lap Ocon and Perez made a pit stop, on the 15th lap Gasly had a problem with the mounting of the right front wheel.
On the 15th lap Sargent changed tires, on the 16th – Russell and Sainz, on the 17th – Hamilton and Ricciardo, on the 18th – Verstappen and Stroll, on the 19th – Albon.
On lap 19, Hamilton made light contact and passed Sainz for sixth position. The stewards left the incident without consequences.
On the 20th lap, Alonso made a pit stop, on the 22nd – Piastri.
On lap 23, Alonso passed Magnussen for 15th place.
On the 24th lap, Norris changed tires, on the 25th – Leclerc.
Top ten in round 26: Verstappen – Russell – Hamilton – Sainz – Norris – Gasly – Leclerc – Ocon – Perez – Piastri.
Piastri outpaced Perez and then Ocon to climb to eighth place.
On the 29th lap Bottas changed tires, on the 30th – Magnussen.
On lap 32, Norris passed Hamilton for third place. Perez changed tires.
On lap 34, Piastri overtook Gasly for seventh place.
On lap 35, Norris and Russell swapped positions several times in the battle for second place – and Lando took the lead.
On lap 37 Hamilton passed Russell. George and Sainz drove into the pits after changing the tires.
Returning to the track, Russell defeated Gasly for sixth place.
On the 38th lap Ocon and Stroll made a pit stop, on the 39th – Gasly and Hulkenberg.
On lap 40, Gasly passed Zhou for ninth place.
On the 42nd lap Zhou made a pit stop, on the 44th – Ricciardo and Hamilton – Lewis got Soft for the last segment and attacked.
On lap 43 Verstappen made a pit stop.
On lap 46, Hamilton overtook Sainz for sixth place. Alonso changed his tires.
On the 47th lap, Piastri made a pit stop, on the 48th – Norris and Leclerc.
Hulkenberg and Tsunoda received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
On lap 50 Perez changed the tires.
Top ten in lap 51: Verstappen – Norris – Russell – Hamilton – Sainz – Leclerc – Piastri – Gasly – Ocon – Perez.
On lap 52, Hamilton overtook Russell for third.
On lap 58, Ricciardo overtook Magnussen for 16th place.
On lap 60 Albon spun into the gravel, but was able to get back on track and continue.
In the final ten laps, Norris spared no effort to close the five-second gap on Verstappen, but was unable to get within attacking distance.
Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix with his seventh victory of the season, 61st of his career and fourth in Barcelona. 10 times in 34 races at this circuit, a non-pole holder has won.
Lando Norris finished second for the 19th time in his career and on the podium for the sixth time this year.
Lewis Hamilton finished the race in third, scoring his 198th career podium and first of the season.
For the second time this year, there were no retirements in the race. There weren’t even yellow flags.
Next week the battle continues in Spielberg, Austria, where we have a weekend with the Saturday sprint.
Race results
| Pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | – | 208,679 | 2 |
| 2. L.Norris | McLaren | +2,219 | 208,592 | 2 |
| 3. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | +17,790 | 207,981 | 2 |
| 4. D. Russell | Mercedes | +22.320 | 207,804 | 2 |
| 5. S. Leclerc | Ferrari | +22.709 | 207,789 | 2 |
| 6. K.Sainz | Ferrari | +31.028 | 207,465 | 2 |
| 7. O. Piastri | McLaren | +33,760 | 207,358 | 2 |
| 8. C. Perez | Red Bull | +59.524 | 206,362 | 3 |
| 9. P. Gasly | Alps | +62.025 | 206,265 | 2 |
| 10. E. Okon | Alps | +71.889 | 205,887 | 2 |
| 11. N. Hulkenberg* | Hare | +79.215 | 205,606 | 2 |
| 12. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | +1 round | 205,148 | 2 |
| 13. G.Zhou | Sauber | +1 round | 204,918 | 2 |
| 14. L. Walk | Aston Martin | +1 round | 204,542 | 2 |
| 15. D. Ricciardo | RB | +1 round | 203,822 | 2 |
| 16. V. Bottas | Sauber | +1 round | 203,469 | 2 |
| 17. K. Magnussen | Hare | +1 round | 203,413 | 2 |
| 18. A. Elbon | Williams | +1 round | 203,286 | 2 |
| 19. Yu.Tsunoda** | RB | +1 round | 202,879 | 3 |
| 20. L. Sargent | Williams | +2 laps | 202,167 | 2 |
* Nico Hulkenberg receives a 5-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane
** Yuki Tsunoda receives a 5 second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane
Best round: Lando Norris (McLaren) – 1:17.115 (51 laps, 217.405 km/h)
Championship Position: Individual Competition
Championship position: Constructors’ Championship
| Team | Engine | Glasses | |
| = | 1. Oracle Red Bull Racing | Honda RBPT | 330 |
| = | 2. Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 270 |
| = | 3. McLaren F1 Team | Mercedes | 237 |
| = | 4. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team | Mercedes | 151 |
| = | 5. Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | Mercedes | 58 |
| = | 6. Visa Cash App RB F1 Team | Honda RBPT | 28 |
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7. BWT Alpine F1 Team | Renault | 8 |
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8. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | 7 |
| = | 9. Williams Racing | Mercedes | 2 |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
