Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix, tenth round of the F1 season. Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton complete the podium in Catalonia.
We promised a complicated Grand Prix for Red Bull and Max Verstappen. It was not easy but at the finish, it was again the Dutchman who won at the wheel of his Austrian car in Spain. His seventh victory in 2024 and the 61st of his career. The Batavian glutton was ahead of Lando Norris, still as dashing with his McLaren, and Lewis Hamilton, who is back in business with his Mercedes.
Russell’s crazy start, Verstappen quickly in the lead
Norris on pole, Verstappen at his side, the start looked promising for Barcelona. The Dutchman got off to a good start, forcing the Briton to push him into the grass. And while the two were bickering up front, it was the clever George Russell who burst out from the outside to take first place at the first corner. The Mercedes driver only held the lead for two laps, quickly overtaken by the three-time world champion. The latter escaped, taking a five-second lead over the Russell-Norris duo until the first stops. Between laps 14 and 17, all the leaders pitted except Norris. The McLaren driver then shifted to put pressure on his rivals.
Norris, offbeat strategy
While Verstappen stopped on lap 17, Norris dived into the pits to put on mediums on lap 23. The Batavian was in the lead while the Briton had to catch up with fresher tires. He successively overtook Hamilton and Russell and then set off in pursuit of the Red Bull. At eight seconds at this point, Norris then came back to four seconds but Verstappen dived into the pits on lap 44. The Dutchman put on softs again to go to the end, forcing Norris to do the same four laps later. The gap was again eight seconds and Norris then had 18 laps to come back. A complicated mission. The Briton came back lap after lap but struggled for a long time at five seconds before clawing again and again to finally fail more than two seconds behind Verstappen.
Alpine in the points
If the battle was intense in front, this was also the case behind it. The Alpines struggled to stay in the points. As in Canada, the Blues placed both cars in the top 10. Pierre Gasly took a good ninth place, just ahead of Esteban Ocon. Three new points for the French who finally move on. No time to rest for these little people since F1 is expected, from Friday in Austria with a sprint race, Saturday, and the Grand Prix, Sunday.
