Verstappen wins for the fifth time ahead of the two Mercedes in Spain

Max Verstappen has won the Spanish Grand Prix following an impressive performance by the defending champion. Red Bull once again proved to be the fastest car on the grid, but Mercedes proved to be the second force on Sunday, claiming the other two podium places. Verstappen’s lead ahead of teammate Perez is now 52 points in the Drivers’ World Championship.

Verstappen took a commanding lead early on, and it became clear that it was his race to lose other than someone else’s to win. The biggest fight was behind the dominating Dutch driver, between Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton in the beginning, and thanks to the Briton taking good care of his tyres, Hamilton overtook Sainz by Lap 29. Mercedes were the second force behind Verstappen, as it seems like the German constructor has made a big jump in race conditions with their new upgrades.

In terms of the three drivers who needed to catch up following their disappointing Saturday sessions, George Russell and Sergio Perez could both climb up latter today. George Russell caught Sainz by Lap 35 for P3, while Perez overtook the Spaniard on his last stint to finish fourth. However, Charles Leclerc could not catch up as well as he would have hoped to, only claiming P11 once the chequered flag was waved.

The midfield battle was also interesting with the teams putting their cars on different strategies, leading to many overtakes on the start-finish straight. Behind the clear Top 5 drivers of the day, Stroll, Alonso, Ocon, Zhou and Gasly finished in the points after an exciting tactical battle. On track, Yuki Tsunoda finished in P9, but got a five-second penalty for pushing Zhou Guanyu of the track.

The Start

The race got off to a relatively quiet start. Carlos Sainz couldn’t take advantage of starting on the softs compared to Verstappen who started on the medium compound, and the Dutchman held on to the lead. While the two were fighting. Within five laps, the defending champion has already pulled away from the Spaniard.

The only incident was between Hamilton and Norris, who got caught up behind Sainz. As a result, the McLaren driver lost his front wing, while Hamilton also lost momentum compared to his great start, and got overtaken by Lance Stroll in Turn 5, however, the seven-time world champion has reclaimed his spot by Lap 8. George Russell has also gained five positions, but that is due to taking the escape road after the start. He was later not penalised for his action.

The tricky tyre degradation

Within the first 12 laps, the drivers in the fighting for the last points-paying positions opted for early pit stops following starting on the soft tyres. Other than Norris, who had to stop to change his front wing following lap one, Zhou Guanyu, Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas and Nyck de Vries all went into the pits early.

At the front, Lance Stroll was the first one to pit, getting the soft tyres for the second time of the day. Carlos Sainz was also put under pressure by a quick Hamilton, he put on the mediums, while Charles Leclerc switched from hards to softs a lap later.

The two Red Bulls and the two Mercedes were the best in handling the conditions in Barcelona, and they were the latest to come in to pit, trying to complete a one-stop race. Hamilton, Russell and Verstappen pit in Lap 25, Lap 26 and Lap 27 respectively. Perez was the last one to complete his first stop, the Red Bull pit crew was extremely fast completing the process in 2.0 seconds. Eventually, no one could pull of a one stop, neither Mercedes, nor Red Bull wanted to take unnecessary risks.