Max Verstappen dominant again in F1 Spanish GP by 24.090s from Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
It was a clean start from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in F1 Spanish GP despite the tyre difference, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz having a good start too but the Spaniard had to remain in second, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll moved up to third.
McLaren’s Lando Norris had a moment with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, which damaged his front wing and needed a pit stop. The latter was fourth from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes’ George Russell.
The Brit was investigated for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, but was cleared of it. The Top 10 was rounded out by Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, with the Chinese racer improving well.
But both the Chinese and the German racer dropped out of the Top 10 allowing Perez and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda to move up. At the front, Hamilton upped his pace to pass Stroll for third, as Russell cleared Alonso for sixth.
It was pretty solid from Verstappen at the front, but Sainz was in a spot of bother after losing out to Hamilton who went long on his first stint to seemingly convert his strategy to a one stop where the Spaniard was on two after his early stop.
That put him in a position where he could lose to Russell where he the Brit was running fourth. Stroll was fifth from Ocon as Perez jumped to seventh from Tsunoda, who stopped early and gained places at ease. Alonso was ninth from Guanyu in the Top 10.
Tsunoda, Guanyu and Hulkenberg were involved in a tight battle early on where the Japanese and the Chinese driver were on the move. Meanwhile, at the front, Sainz couldn’t hold on to third for long on track when Russell passed him to be on the podium.
It was all well at the front for Verstappen but he had two warnings for track limits. Hamilton was a comfortable second from Russel, Sainz and Perez after the three made their stops, with the Mexican in the hot zone to clear them for third.
He did a quick work of Sainz to move up to fourth. Behind them, Stroll was a good sixth as Alonso climbed up to seventh after a hairy overtake against Ocon who had Tsunoda and Guanyu behind in the Top 10, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in 11th from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
There was a black and white flag for Verstappen for his third track limits warning, but the Dutchman still seemingly wanted to go for the fastest lap. At the same time, Tsunoda was handed a 5s penalty for forcing Guanyu off track at Turn 1 in their fight.
It was dominant from Verstappen to win the F1 Spanish GP by 24.090s with the fastest lap, as Hamilton and Russell rounded out a double Mercedes podium. Perez recovered to fourth from Sainz, with Stroll in fifth from Alonso where the Spaniard didn’t pass him.
He radioed his team that he wouldn’t pass, as Ocon was eighth from Tsunoda and Guanyu, but a penalty to the Japanese driver meant the Chinese driver was ninth as Gasly took the final point in 10th with Leclerc just missing out in 11th with Tsunoda 12th.
Piastri was 13th from de Vries as Hulkenberg was 15th with Williams’ Alexander Albon 16th, Norris 17th, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen 18th, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas 19th and Williams’ Logan Sargeant 20th where all 20 drivers finished – everyone from Piastri downward ended up a lap down.
RACE CLASSIFICATION (LAP 66/66)
A fabulous 40th career win for @Max33Verstappen #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/k5d79cPOLa
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 4, 2023
More to come