Total domination! Verstappen dominated the Spanish Grand Prix, both Mercedes drivers on the podium

Another win for Max Verstappen. Formula 1 had its seventh race of the season this weekend. Verstappen dominated the Spanish Grand Prix after an absolutely dominant drive, with Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell rounding out the podium.

After Saturday’s qualifying, fans were probably expecting a little more from the Spanish Grand Prix than the seventh round of the season offered in the final.

Max Verstappen started the race at the Barcelona circuit from the top spot, with Carlos Sainz completing the front row. Lando Norris started from third, followed by Lewis Hamilton. The third row belonged to Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon.

Nico Hülkenberg secured seventh place before all five lights went out in Saturday’s qualifying, Fernando Alonso eighth, Oscar Piastri ninth and Alpine driver Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten drivers at the start.

Notably, the vast majority of the starting field opted for the softest set of tyres. Only Verstappen, Sergio Pérez and Logan Sargeant used the medium compound marked in yellow. Charles Leclerc, starting from the pit lane, fitted the hardest specification.

The Spanish Grand Prix opener

Dutchman Verstappen made a solid start, holding on to his top spot after the first corner. On the other hand, Norris was very unlucky at turns 1 and 2, as he broke part of his front wing after a duel with Hamilton. It remained wedged in his car and the British McLaren driver had to head to his mechanics after the first lap.

Stroll also made a great start, moving up to third. Sainz held on to second place, while George Russell also had a great start, moving up to seventh.

Verstappen, Sainz, Stroll, Hamilton, Ocon, Alonso, Russell, Nico Hülkenberg, Zhou Kuan-yu, Pérez – that’s how the top ten points standings looked after the opening three rounds of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Beautiful overtaking manoeuvres, pit stops

Zhou started the pit-stop window as early as lap ten, Nyck De Vries also made a stop a few moments later. Both drivers changed to a hard set of tyres. On lap 12, Hülkenberg pulled off a beautiful manoeuvre to get past his two rivals.

Russell continued his great pace. He started from twelfth place and was already fifth at the end of lap 11 after overtaking Ocon. In contrast, the legendary Spaniard Alonso struggled to make his way up the order at the home grand prix as he had in other races.

The pit stops understandably shuffled the standings as the race progressed. It should be noted that during the race at the Barcelona circuit, all drivers made at least two stops at their mechanics, as Pirelli had predicted in advance.

Although there was quite a lot of overtaking in the Spanish Grand Prix, the seventh race of this season did not bring much drama. A large number of overtaking manoeuvres took place, especially in the section of Turns 1 and 2.

Gasly overtook De Vries on lap 23, Russell made a great pass on Sainz on lap 35, and Alonso made a beautiful pass on Ocon later in the race.

Ferrari in trouble, Verstappen totally dominant

The Spanish Grand Prix was won by Verstappen, who scored his 40th career victory. But on top of that, he also set the fastest time of the race at 1:16.330 and was voted the best driver of the day.

On the other hand, Ferrari had a terrible race pace. Leclerc finished as high as 11th, while Sainz finished as high as fifth, compared to his second starting position. Mercedes had a very decent run, with their drivers taking the podium.

After Saturday’s qualifying, the McLaren drivers also had a good result within their grasp, but in the end the Woking team did not score a single point. Pérez finished the race in fourth place after starting from eleventh place, while Alfa Romeo scored two points thanks to Chou.

Yuki Cunoda in the AlphaTauri was also within touching distance of a points contribution, but was given a five-second penalty on lap 62 for his earlier duel with Chou. So what is the final standings for the Spanish Grand Prix?

Sources