Verstappen takes managed win on the Spanish Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Spain, Circuit de Catalunya

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen strengthened his championship lead at Barcelona by taking his fourth victory of the 2023 F1 season with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finishing the rostrum at the Spanish Grand Prix. F1Technical’s Balázs Szabó experiences from Barcelona.

After securing his first pole place at Barcelona, Max Verstappen retained his lead initially from Carlos Sainz with Lewis Hamilton bettering his beginning place from P4 to P3.

Nonetheless, Hamilton had contact with Norris on the primary lap which pressured the McLaren racer to dive into the pits for a brand new entrance wing and the incident noticed Hamilton lose a spot to Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll.

Nonetheless, the seven-time world champion may shortly regain the place, demonstrating spectacular race tempo together with his upgraded Mercedes W14.

Within the meantime, Sergio Perez and George Russell have been seeking to get better from their lowly grid place. On Lap 6, the Briton made probably the most of DRS to get by dwelling hero Fernando Alonso at Flip 1. The following lap noticed Perez go across the exterior of Zhou Guanyu, transferring up into eighth.

Verstappen continuously constructed up his lead from Sainz with the margin between the Dutchman and the Spaniard rising to five.3s by Lap 11. Within the meantime, Hamilton closed in on the Ferrari driver, working only one.6s behind the Madrid-born driver.

Whereas Sainz wanted to pit for recent tyres, Hamilton may prolong his opening stint till Lap 25 when he got here in for a recent set of medium. Russell obtained the identical set of tyres on the following lap with Verstappen additionally finishing his first tyre swap.

Whereas the late cease noticed Hamilton rejoin the observe behind Sainz, he may shortly shut in on the Spaniard and overtake him whereas his teammate Russell glided by Stroll.

On Lap 30, the order was Verstappen with Hamilton, Sainz, Russell, Stroll, Ocon, Tsunoda, Alonso, Perez and Zhou finishing the highest ten.

Utilizing his recent hards, Perez bought previous Alonso on the following lap, bettering his place to eighth. 4 laps later, Russell stormed previous Sainz into Flip 1 for P3.

Within the meantime, Verstappen managed the race, extending his lead from Hamilton to fifteen.7s, who had a margin of 9.7s from his teammate Russell.

The following lap noticed Sainz dive into the pits for a tyre change with Ferrari giving the Spaniard a brand new set of mediums. After ranging from the pits, his teammate was seeking to get better, and he went additionally in for his final tyre change. There was misunderstanding on the Ferrari field although as Leclerc wished a brand new set of softs and he obtained hards as an alternative.

With 20 laps to go, Alonso pitted for a brand new set of Onerous compound, however he solely rejoined down in P10. Russell additionally pitted with Mercedes mounting softs onto the upgraded W14.

Lap 51 noticed the opposite Mercedes driver are available in with Hamilton additionally receiving the red-walled C3 compound. Perez additionally pitted shortly afterwards with the Mexican rejoining the motion in P5 behind Sainz.

Alonso was keen to enhance his place, and closed in on Esteban Ocon. Regardless of a really aggressive defence from the Frenchman, the Spaniard stormed previous the Alpine racer.

With solely 13 laps to go, Verstappen got here in for his final cease, ending the race on the delicate compound. Within the meantime, his teammate Perez breezed previous Sainz into Flip 1 for fourth with the Mexican placing Russell in his sights.

Though Perez was catching Russell, he was unable to get into DRS vary and needed to accept P4.

Verstappen went for the quickest lap of the race within the dying minutes of the grand prix, however he then eased off slightly bit to chalk up his fifth win of the 2023 season. Together with his third triumph on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Verstappen moved 53 factors away from nearest rival Perez within the race for the drivers’ title.

Mercedes demonstrated the improved race tempo of their closely upgraded W14 with Hamilton and Russell taking second and third.

Depsite beginning his dwelling race from P2, Sainz needed to accept P5, adopted by the Aston Martin duo of Stroll and Alonso. Esteban Ocon scored factors with a P8 end after his Monaco podium with Guanyu and Pierre Gasly finishing the highest ten.

Leclec was unable to safe a degree after his disastrous qualifying session that led to a Q1 exit yesterday.