A poor start saw Lando Norris playing catch up for the entirety of the Spanish Grand Prix, allowing Max Verstappen to take win number 7 for the season.
Whilst Norris was able to get off the line decently enough, Verstappen was able to start just slightly better, making it necessary for Norris to come across to defend the threat posed to his lead. However, in the process of doing this, George Russell, who had started in 4th, managed to utilise the slipstream to get ahead of everybody and take the lead at turn 1, whilst Norris fell to third.
Russell’s lead was short lived though, as Verstappen was able to get in front on lap 3, and began to steadily build a gap. Norris, hoping to get his 2nd career win, would need to pass Russell in order to chase Verstappen down, but Russell was proving to be a tough nut to crack. The Mercedes man may not have had the pace to match Verstappen, but he had enough to keep others behind, even if he was pushing a bit more to do so.
The first round of pitstops came early, with Russell and Sainz being the first of the front runners to come in on lap 16. A slow stop for Russell put him at risk of losing a position to Sainz, but this was narrowly avoided.
Whilst most others opted to respond soon after, Norris stayed out for another 8 laps in order to build a strong tyre offset. He was clearly the fastest of anyone on the track by the midpoint of the race, and just as well, the overcut meant he had lost out on a few positions, and would need to act quick if he wanted to fight for the win.
After making light work of Sainz, Norris found himself stuck behind another Mercedes, this time Hamilton. Even with the grip advantage, he wasn’t having the easiest time getting close to an overtake. Though, after a few laps, he was able to get back into the podium places after getting a DRS boost down into turn 1.
Russell was once again the target, and again Norris wouldn’t find it easy, running just around the 1 second mark behind Russell. When Norris did eventually make the overtake on Russell a few laps after passing Hamilton, it wasn’t without a strong fight that saw the two battle for half a lap. Norris was now in 2nd, and 9.4 seconds behind Verstappen. By the time Verstappen would come into the pits 10 laps later, this deficit was cut to under 5 seconds.
Norris would come in 3 laps after Verstappen, but in that time the gap had grown back to 8 seconds, and with 18 laps to go in the race, it was a tall ask for Norris to get the win. However, the Brit had started to make some strong gains into Verstappen’s lead, but this would begin to plateau over time, with the reigning world champion starting to push a bit harder. Whilst Norris would eventually end up under 3 seconds behind Verstappen, he was never close enough to take the top spot today.
Further back, and Russell had been put onto hards for his final stint. He was immediately unhappy with this tyre choice, which may have informed the team’s decision to put Hamilton on soft tyres a few laps later. With the grip advantage, Hamilton was finally able to attack Russell, and would eventually take 3rd place in order to score his first podium of the season.
Russell would ultimately finish in 4th, but he was super close to losing this to Charles Leclerc. Leclerc had made some minor contact with his teammate Sainz earlier in the race, an event which caused some minor front wing damage and compromising his pace. By the time Leclerc got to his final stint, having also established a tyre offset akin to Norris’ strategy, he was beginning to make inroads on the field. He was able to take fifth from Sainz rather easily, and would continue to gain on Russell right until the end of the race, where he would finish less than 4 tenths behind the Brit. Perhaps with one more lap he could have gotten the position.
This victory is Verstappen’s 7th of the season, and the 10th time he and Norris have occupied the top 2 positions. It is also his 3rd consecutive win in Spain, and takes him 69 points clear of Lando Norris in the World Driver’s Championship, who now sits in 2nd for the first time in his career.
