Max Verstappen sealed an assured victory in the Spanish Grand Prix as he held off the challenge of pole-sitter Lando Norris to take his seventh win of the season.
The Red Bull man first took the lead of the race on Lap 3 after the Mercedes of George Russell, starting fourth, made the most of his electric start as the lights went out to lead early on.
With Verstappen less than happy after appearing to be squeezed by Norris at the start, the three-time world champion settled down after getting past the McLaren man before pipping Russell for the lead with a move down the outside of Turn 1.
Pole-sitter Norris, who yesterday had been lauding his “perfect lap” in qualifying, would spend the crucial early stages of the race stuck behind Russell, costing him time in the eventual fight for the lead.
| POS | DRIVER | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:28:20.227 | 25 | |
| 2 | +2.219s | 19 | |
| 3 | +17.790s | 15 | |
| 4 | +22.320s | 12 | |
| 5 | +22.709s | 10 | |
| 6 | +31.028s | 8 | |
| 7 | +33.760s | 6 | |
| 8 | +59.524s | 4 | |
| 9 | +62.025s | 2 | |
| 10 | +71.889s | 1 | |
| 11 | +79.215s | 0 | |
| 12 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 13 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 14 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 15 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 16 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 17 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 18 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 19 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| 20 | +2 laps | 0 |
(Note – Norris scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Hulkenberg and Tsunoda each received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.)
With the lead changing hands a number of times as drivers dipped in for their pit stops, Verstappen would continue to control the race and maintain his lead as the chequered flag closed in, the Red Bull man having kept a set of new softs aside for his final stint of the Grand Prix.
With Norris running second, his efforts to close in on the Dutchman to challenge for the victory were in vein despite Verstappen’s struggles towards the end, hindered by his second pit stop also being a slow 3.6-second effort.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton managed to secure his first Grand Prix podium of the season, having enjoyed a couple of dramatic on-track battles with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, while Russell would come home in P4 – complaining that his hard tyre “did not feel good” on his final stint.
The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sainz would come home in P5 and P6 respectively, with any hope of a Scuderia challenge failing to materialise around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Pierre Gasly took a well-deserved ninth for Alpine, with his team mate Esteban Ocon making it a double points affair for the team thanks to his P10 result.
Sergio Perez managed to undo some of the damage caused by his three-place grid penalty picked up last time in Canada, with the Red Bull man initially starting from 11th, by making a late overtake on Gasly for eighth.
The Haas of Nico Hulkenberg would take 11th, hindered by a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, with Fernando Alonso’s performance only good enough for 12th in what has been a difficult weekend for Aston Martin.
Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu would come home in 13th ahead of Alonso’s team mate Stroll, while Daniel Ricciardo took P15 as RB were left scratching their heads after a difficult weekend where they introduced a major new update.
That difficulty was compounded with Yuki Tsunoda in 19th – on a day where there were no yellow flags or retirements – while Bottas, Magnussen and Albon would finish 16th, 17th and 18th respectively. The Williams of Logan Sargeant was the final car to finish in 20th place.
With Verstappen overjoyed by his latest triumph in Spain, his third in a row at this event, Norris was left to bemoan a missed opportunity, admitting over the radio at the end that he had messed up his start.
Formula 1 Media | Photos: Formula 1
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