There is a reason why the first victory of the duo Verstappen-Red Bull arrived back in 2016 precisely in Barcelona, one of the most severe tracks on tires for configuration, asphalt and temperatures. Following the principle that a driver cannot be evaluated separately from the car, the reigning world champion couple have always expressed their best qualities in tire management. In addition to the inaugural success of 2016, one can remember the races dominated in Mexico in 2017 and 2018, both closed with an advantage close to twenty seconds. On Saturday the effectiveness of the pairing on a single lap was rightly celebrated Ferrari-Leclerc, but today’s performance of the Verstappen-Red Bull duo is worthy of all praise. One could object to the Dutchman’s mistake in curve 4 who risked compromising the race and that without Leclerc’s retirement the challenge for the victory would have been written, but from the scenario that has emerged a Verstappen has emerged in one of its best forms.
The number 1 maintained the second position at the start despite not having been able to try the standing start, having left the pit lane just nine seconds before the closing of the pit lane. So, after being stuck behind Russell for a long time, complicit in the error and the malfunction of the DRS, the pit wall called the switch to the three-stop strategy. Triple pit stops were among the options planned in the morning, but before the race there was no certainty as to which strategy would be the best. Verstappen admitted at a press conference that the choice to divert to the three stops was the daughter of the difficulties of overtaking on Russell, which forced the team to reshuffle the cards and adopt a more aggressive strategy, which in the overall balance proved to be the most effective. However, he impresses the pace held by the Dutchman during the third stint on soft tires, the same ones not used during the second attempt prematurely aborted in Q3 in qualifying. Although in conditions of superiority of cars and tires, Verstappen was consistently almost two seconds to Russell’s fastest lap, recovering the time lost with the stop in just ten laps, while completing a valuable overtaking on the outside of Bottas at Banc. Sabadell. At that point it was not difficult to get to the exhausts of Perez, who remained on the more conventional but less effective two-stop strategy.
The biggest regret of the Spanish Grand Prix is the lack of direct confrontation between Red Bull and Ferrari, which could have provided important information on the balance of power in a world-class key. It is really difficult to judge the performance of the Scuderia di Maranello and to establish whether Sainz’s dull race or Leclerc’s excellent first stint is more representative. In the conditions that in Miami had been the most critical for the F1-75, that is to say with the softer compound and fully loaded with fuel, the Monegasque was the fastest on the track, on average two or three tenths faster than Verstappen until to the Dutch mistake. The world champion himself admitted that he was unable to determine how a possible duel over the full race distance between the RB18 and the F1-75 would be resolved. However, the large differences in favor of Red Bull seen in the race pace simulations on Friday have been denied, which, as already happened in Bahrain, would not seem to have been confirmed in the race. The worst simulated pace in Ferrari’s test is partly due to the Scuderia’s need to perform set-up experiments to understand how to make the most of the update package brought to Barcelona, similar to how in the inaugural race there was a need to gather information. on the behavior of the new car.
The updates brought by Ferrari to Spain have solved the problem of the porpoising and allowed the F1-75 to make a notable leap forward, proving to be at the same level if not superior to an RB18 which in turn benefited from a new fund and further lightening work. Wanting to take as indicative the superiority expressed by Leclerc in the first stint, it acquires even more relevance considering how it emerged on the most complete track of the World Championship. Progress on the set-up front was also positive: while in Miami Ferrari had compromised the stability of the rear to protect the front more in high-speed corners, while suffering a delay in the slow, in Barcelona the Red was well balanced in every sector of the track. Speed on the straight is also encouraging, thanks to aerodynamically more effective set-ups thanks to lower ground clearance made possible by the elimination of porpoising, but the big drawback of reliability remains.
In a world championship fight like the current one it is useless to complain about the points lost on one side of the other. It could be said that Verstappen is first in the World Championship even with one more retirement and that the Dutchman has won all the races he has completed, while on the other front it could be argued that the reigning champion has always retired from second position, losing 36 points against Leclerc’s 25 today. A situation in which the difference is therefore mainly Leclerc’s mistake at Imola and Red Bull’s best record of victories. The Miami Grand Prix ended with Ferrari leading both standings, but with Milton Keynes’s team in better shape. Conversely, in Barcelona Red Bull confirmed excellent competitiveness and took the world championship leadership, but the F1-75 has made a notable leap in performance, with still some potential residual unlockable from the Scuderia di Maranello as soon as the understanding of the latest evolutionary package improves. The world championship challenge is anything but closed.
Mercedes closes the Spanish Grand Prix thirty seconds from the top, a gap that would seem to tell a scenario unchanged from the first races of the championship, but which actually provides encouraging signs for the Silver Arrows. First of all, a non-optimized strategy for Russell must be taken into account, forced by the attempt to lengthen the second stint to reach the finish line with only two stops, an aspect partially offset by the conservative pace held by Verstappen once he took the lead. Even more important, however, is that the half-minute remedied in Barcelona does not have the same weight as on other tracks, being the Catalan one the most convincing track in the World Championship and for this reason it tends to emphasize the differences between the cars. Undoubtedly, Mercedes still has a delay to fill in order to reach the top and the run-up to the title appears prohibitive, but the update package brought to Spain corrected some of the limitations that slowed down the W13. Deleted the porpoising, the team will now be able to extract further potential by outlining progressively more effective setups, but above all the team can count on a starting point on which to set the performance development of the car, without having to invest resources in the fight against aerodynamic rebound. Mercedes thus denotes an encouraging margin for growth, extremely valuable in view of 2023.
In sixth position there is an increasingly consistent one Alfa Romeo, which at the moment appears to be looking for rivals. Haas continues to fail to deliver good qualifying performance in the race, while McLaren is currently proving to be erratic and still intent on figuring out how to take advantage of the latest update package. The seven days that separate the Circus from the Monte Carlo appointment do not promise any particular reversals, although the race in the Principality has always been atypical and prone to giving surprises.
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