F1 Report Cards Spain, the other podium

by VALERIO BARRETTA

F1 Spain, the report cards of those promoted

1. Max Verstappen. He wins if it’s sunny, if it rains, if it snows, if he has a car, if he doesn’t have a car, if he starts in front, if he starts in back. He wins because it’s the only thing he agrees to do, this is how it was programmed by nature and created by the family. Someone who when he dominates tells you “In reality I always have an opponent, I want to beat myselfor “you don’t defeat him, you can only hope to have a stronger car. And even that isn’t enough: ask McLaren and Lando Norris. Schumaxer now misses, in my opinion, getting his hands dirty elsewhere and getting involved outside of a comfort zone that he himself has made so with the results. Wolff, to have it, would graze around the paddock for a month dressed as Bee Gees. And how can you blame him?

2. Lewis Hamilton. Finally an entire weekend worthy of his fame and his career. Montreal’s ill-gotten gains are recovered also thanks to a strategy by Russell which in the end proves to be the worst, with the hard at the end of the stint not paying off. It’s the best response to those who called him boiled rather than sabotaged: if Mercedes is Mercedes, Sir Lewis is there.

3. McLaren. Normally he would fail, because he has the best car and loses (also) through his own faults. If it had been Red Bull, Mercedes or Ferrari it would have been a 3-point Sunday. However, McLaren is a team unaccustomed to being at the top, which only in recent years has equipped itself to win. In short, if you lack clarity in the hottest phases, you can (still) forgive it. Also because you are fighting against someone who leaves you nothing and forces you to perfection. It’s not enough to get to the top, you also have to get used to the rarefied air. It applies to everyone, it also applies to McLaren and Norris. Not forever (Lando is approaching full maturity) but it’s right to wait and take your hat off to growth that would have been unthinkable 15 months ago. Special mention for Alpine, which brings us to…

F1 Spain, the report cards of those who failed

3. The great Briatore effect. I swear, read and heard. I leave her untouched because she already makes you laugh like this. Piastri and Perez were also there, but either out of youth (alas, others) or out of mercy I preferred something else.

2. Ferrari. It may not be Montreal, but it’s a moral blow. On the weekend in which the updates arrive, the Red is gray and anonymous, giving the impression of having little potential to unlock compared above all to McLaren and Mercedes. It is perhaps the most difficult moment of Vasseur’s management, who had an easy time last year (Binotto was more unpopular than Trap when he didn’t call up Baggio to the World Cup) and started from a base not created by him, which could also have served as an excuse, especially at the beginning of the season. In 2024 he is really experiencing what it means to be the head of Ferrari, where second place is defeated, let alone fifth. On Leclerc-Sainz: we knew from the start that it would go like this. While remaining within the realm of professionalism, Sainz must think of himself. Even if now there’s little point in struggling, because the top teams don’t have room for him anyway.

1. Aston Martin. It is the team that has brought the most updates since the beginning of the year (21 if I didn’t count wrong) and that perhaps has gone back the most. Same thing happened in 2023, where however the starting point was excellent and with Nando’s quality there were also some podiums. At Montmeló with three new entries they finish behind Alpine and Haas. Even Sauber is improving (it was difficult to get worse), they are not. Only RB did worse, but at least there you tend to suspend judgement, and then we are still talking about a B team. Here there is a history of worse cars and an ambition to win the 2026 title that isn’t even so hidden, otherwise it wouldn’t be keep Alonso and don’t tie yourself to Honda. Expectations/results ratio in hand, it is perhaps the worst team of the season after Alpine.