The news of the Spanish GP
For the third consecutive year Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutchman celebrates his seventh victory in ten GPs of the season and further extends his lead in the world championship standings. The race, however, was far from easy for Hasselt’s #1 and it turned in his favor at the start when Verstappen, despite being passed by Russell’s lightning sprint, managed to get in front of Lando Norriswho instead started from pole position and found himself third in turn-1.
Despite using different strategies and with the Englishman from McLaren trying to recover at the end of the race thanks to a soft tire fitted later, Vestappen remained ahead of his friend-rival until the checkered flag. Russell, however, slipped back to fourth place, handing third place to his teammate Lewis Hamilton (first podium in 2024).
The two Mercedes confirmed their starting positions exactly like the two Ferraris, fifth and sixth with Leclerc and Sainz. Anonimo Piastri, who came seventh, and even more so Perez, eighth. The two Alpines of Gasly (9th) and Ocon (10th) also scored points. David Coulthard interviewed the top three.
The words of the top-3
Max Verstappen (°1, Red Bull): “The race was decided from the start. I took the lead on lap 2 and managed to build a cushion there. After that we played a defensive race, because Lando had a very fast car and also on degradation they were better than us, because at the end of the stint they were doing very well. But we did everything well, the rather aggressive strategy paid off. We came very close, but we are happy to have won again. Departure? I had to do a bit of rallying, Lando pushed me onto the grass and we braked late into Turn 1. I was trying to take the lead, then I managed to do it later, passing Russell. I wanted to stay in front to manage the tyres, when I managed to do that everything was easier. The tires here get very hot and you slide a lot. You have to manage but you are always at the limit.”
Lando Norris (2nd, McLaren): “Could I win? No, I had to win. I lost the race at the start. Today the car was fantastic, we were the fastest. I am disappointed. But there are many positive sides. But a negative one ruins everything. This is a test I need to learn from. However, we achieved a good haul of points, I thank the team because the car was fantastic. I don’t know what I did wrong at the start. I found Max on the side and then George caught me by surprise on the outside. Congratulations to Max and Red Bull, it’s a shame we lost the race here, it’s frustrating. Austria? In terms of performance it is one of my favorite tracks. We are in an excellent moment, we have to raise the level and we will be ahead of everyone“.
Lewis Hamilton (3rd, Mercedes): “Nice day and solid weekend for us. I have to thank the team, they practiced a lot on pit stops and strategy and they were perfect. Like Lando, I also made a very bad start. We lost positions at the start on the Ferraris and then it was hard to get back to where I am now. Perhaps with a better start we could have kept the pace of those in front of us. We certainly wouldn’t have been that far behind. Soft strategy? It was planned from the beginning, I had chosen to do the race with soft-medium-soft. Overtaking Sainz? All overtaking was close. We grazed our wheels but everything was fine“.
#Verstappen #King #Spain #Race #decided #start
