Pole: Max Verstappen
Winner: Max Verstappen
Fastest Lap: Max Verstappen 1.16.330
1-10
1st lap contact for Hamilton and Norris as Norris seems to drive into the left tyre of Hamilton. Norris boxes for a new front wing and drops down the order. Verstappen got away well with Sainz close behind and tried a move around the outside as Stroll overtakes Hamilton for p3. Russell gained 5 places at the beginning as he takes the escape road as a precaution to not go into 3 into 1 but has been noted for gaining an advantage. In lap 7, Russell overtakes home hero Alonso for p6. In lap 10, Hulkenberg and Zhou come into the pits to get rid of their soft tyres whilst we have just seen Hamilton get past Stroll in the Aston Martin.
10-20
Russell overtakes Ocon in a lovely move for p5 down the inside of the first corner. Perez has been making good places up to P7 on the medium tyres as Ocon comes into the pits for new tyres. In lap 14, as he comes out of the pits Hulkenberg, Zhou and Tsunoda are battling with Yuki almost going around the outside of both for p15 completing the move the following lap. Lap 16, Sainz pit for new tyres. Zhou has overtaken Hulkenberg for p15 with a lovely move on the inside of turn 1. Lap 18, Piastri has boxed and joins just as De Vries and Hulkenberg are battling it out for p13. Russell reports that his tyres are okay with the Mercedes showing pace in this race.
20-30
In lap 20, Alonso and Gasly both pit. In lap 24, Gasly has done well to get through De Vries and ahead of Leclerc again as he takes p14 with the fastest lap. Lap 25 Hamilton comes into the pits for medium tyres and swaps positions with George as he is on Soft tyres. Sainz is 2 seconds ahead as Magnussen comes into the pits. Lap 27, Verstappen has boxed and Perez has pitted for hard tyres. Russell has reported rain at turn 5. Using DRS Russell is able to get past Stroll for p5.
30-40
Hamilton has managed to get past Sainz for p2 as he pulls a 2-second gap with Verstappen ahead by 12 seconds. In lap 31, Perez pits his red bull ahead of Alonso who seems to be struggling down in p9 on the soft tyres. In lap 33, Perez got ahead of Tsunoda who has been running well in p8 as Perez used DRS to go down the inside of the Alpha Tauri. Another overtake for Perez who is able to get by Ocon. In lap 35, Russell makes a solid move on Sainz using the main straight to get ahead of the Ferrari on the inside of turn 1.
40-50
Bottas and Magnussen have been battling well on the track as Magnussen gets ahead of Bottas for p15. In lap 42, a few have come into the pits for new tyres with everyone in the top 6 having only stopped once. In lap 43, Leclerc is still down in p14 but seems as though he is still struggling with a potential issue with the car. In lap 44, Verstappen is reporting that he is struggling with these tyres but is going to be able to pit with a good gap built to the Mercedes of Hamilton behind with 16 seconds.
50-66
Perez has pit onto the soft tyres to try and threaten Russell towards the end of the race as Verstappen reports he is continuing to struggle on the tyres. Alonso gets past Ocon to delight the Spanish crowd as Ocon puts on an aggressive defensive move. Lap 53, Verstappen pits for soft tyres. Perez has made a lovely move on the inside of turn 1 on Sainz as he takes P4 starting the chase for the podium. Russell has been warned about Perez for the final laps of the race. Zhou tries to get past Tsunoda in turn 1 but has to go off to the escape road and feels as though he was pushed off the track in his battle for p10. Lap 59 Verstappen has been shown the black and white flag as he seems to be pushing the limits of his car. Lap 60, Aston Martins are running P6 and P7 as Alonso says he is not taking any risks trying to build a gap to the cars behind. Lap 63, Perez has been gaining on Russell as Russell is encouraged to start picking up the pace to bring it home P3 with Hamilton in P2. As the battle for the final podium position heats up Russell is heading up to traffic and Perez is still giving it everything to close the gap for the final lap. Final lap and Verstappen takes the win with another dominating drive. The two Mercedes finish off the podium with DOTD Hamilton in 2nd and George in 3rd.
Summary:
Max Verstappen added another win to his tally in Spain returning to the track where he picked up his first race win. It was another dominant drive from the Red Bull driver as he controlled the race and brought it home with a 24-second gap to Hamilton. Mercedes rounded up a brilliant weekend for the team with both drivers on the podium with Hamilton finishing 2nd and Russell 3rd. Behind them was Perez finishing 4th who attempted a late charge to the podium after pitting around lap 50 for soft tyres but could not quite catch the Mercedes driver.
1 out of 2 of the home race heroes, Carlos Sainz, finished P5 for Ferrari after a solid qualifying and a competitive start for the Spanish driver in P2 after a flurry of pit stops ended up dropping down the order and unable to keep up with the Mercedes and Red Bulls. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll had one of the best weekends of this season as he finished P6 at another weekend where good teamwork came into play for the British team. Home hero Alonso came home P7 where he displayed great teamwork again by keeping Esteban Ocon behind, it wasn't the home race he wanted it to be given how competitive the Aston Martin car has been in the opening race of the season but is determined to make his way back up to the podium finishing places. Esteban Ocon and Guanyu Zhou finished P8 and P9 both drivers managed their strategies well throughout the race and gained points for their respective teams. Rounding off the top 10 was Pierre Gasly in the Alpine who also had a great qualifying yesterday in P4.
One driver who seemed to struggle this weekend was Charles Leclerc who struggled all weekend with his Ferrari finishing the race in P11, Ferrari had an issue on Leclerc's car but struggled to find out where it was. Yuki Tsunoda finished P12 after being part of a tense battle with Zhou resulting in him being penalised which some have argued was a harsh penalty decision as Zhou had to turn to the escape road at turn 2 to avoid a collision. After a review it was deemed by the FIA that Zhou was ahead at the apex of turn 1 so was entitled to the racing room that Tsunoda apparently did not give enough of resulting in a 5-second penalty demoting him to P12 from P9. P13 was McLaren's rookie Oscar Piastri who is one driver of 8 to have been lapped in this race. Nyck De Vries finished P14 and the HAAS of Hulkenberg in P15. Alex Albon crossed the line P16 making up 2 places from his qualifying position of P18. Norris finished P17 after an outstanding qualifying yesterday had the McLaren driver starting P3 on the grid but after first-lap contact with Hamilton, he had to pit and change his front wing unable to take more from the race. Magnussen crossed the line P18 and Bottas P19 after both drivers provided great entertainment out on track battling for P18 towards the end of the race. The Williams rookie Logan Sargeant finished P20 to round off the race at the Circuit de Catalunya with no retirements.
Next Race: Canada
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