Max Verstappen suffered the attack of Lando Norris at turn 3 on lap 4 for the clipping of his Honda engine. The Dutchman did not close the door to McLaren, but Lando, in command, was not able to close the door to the Dutchman towards turn 4 and the “sniper” pierced him relentlessly, dragging Oscar Piastri with him who seized the opportunity to slip past his teammate.
The world championship leader then controlled the two Papaya cars before extending lap after lap over his pursuers until he granted himself a 4″6 advantage over the Australian. Max celebrated his fifth consecutive victory in the race and took his Saturday successes to ten. Red Bull’s pace was decidedly superior to that of McLaren, bringing the RB20 back to the technical top of F1, even if it is difficult to divide the credit between the great driver and the car which is impressive in the final corners.
The loser is Lando Norris as in Spain: the Englishman led the attack on Verstappen from the front row, but then was unable to manage the lead, committing an error of judgment which did not hesitate for a moment to put the Red Bull’s nose back in front . Once the door was open, Oscar Piastri also took advantage of it to pass Lando and, despite attempts to regain his position with the DRS, he was forced to surrender to the Australian.
McLaren, always very fast, was unable to manage the tires and was inexorably separated by the “monster” Verstappen. Norris pays 71 world points on Max, while he hoped to close the gap to the Dutchman. The Briton fails to capitalize on the potential of the MCL38 and Andrea Stella, aware of this situation, rightly did not give any order to reverse the positions between the two drivers.
George Russell remains off the podium with Mercedes: the black-silver arrow didn’t have the pace to enter the fight for the top and the Englishman limited himself to regaining fourth place after suffering the best start from Carlos Sainz with Ferrari . George passed the red on lap 7, taking advantage of a difficulty the Spaniard had with the brakes overheating.
Carlos, once he lost Russell’s DRS, had to defend himself from the return of Lewis Hamilton, but the Madrid native did well to contain the seven-time world champion. Ferrari had a burning start to the race: if Sainz gained a position at the start, Charles Leclerc took three giving the feeling that it was a different day for the red. But after a few laps the Monegasque also had to start driving by doing lift and coast at the end of the straights to check the brake temperatures, not being able to brake as he could.
At the end of the day, the Scuderia remains inexorably the fourth force, disappointing the expectations of the Cavallino fans. The team must think about changing its approach to the GP qualifications, given that the parc fermé is reopened. The red car’s bouncing around is not enough to make life difficult for the drivers, it also uses the brakes.
Sergio Perez is eighth with the second RB20: a small championship point cannot make a lackluster race by the Mexican a positive one. Kevin Magnussen’s performance was positive, however, ninth with the Haas ahead of Lance Stroll with the Aston Martin and the two Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
The Canadian with the “green” is doing his best, while Fernando Alonso seems to be in a bad moment, demotivated by a few races.
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