Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen edged out strong competition from McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to take home victory on Sunday at round 10 on the 2024 Formula 1 calendar, the Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen had to fight his way to the top and ultimately finished just two seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, the pole sitter. Rounding out the top three was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, almost 18 seconds behind Verstappen.
Verstappen started the race on the front row and pulled ahead of Norris as the lights turned green, though Norris almost squeezed Verstappen toward the edge of track ahead of Turn 1. Their dual left the turn wide open for a fast-starting George Russell, who drove his Mercedes from fourth place to first.
It didn’t take long for Verstappen to get away from Norris and with a bit of help from his DRS, the reigning world champion was able to pass Russell with a tow into Turn 1 on the third lap. The order at the front didn’t change again until the first round of pit stops, with Verstappen stopping on lap 17 and briefly handing the lead spot back to Norris. The McLaren driver would then hand the position back when making his own stop on lap 24.
By the midway point, Verstappen had built a gap of about eight seconds with Russell who was now in second place, albeit with Norris close behind. Norris would soon take back second from Russell who would then have to face a challenge from Hamilton.
2024 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Photo via Mercedes-Benz
At the front, Norris began to close in on Verstappen, and as the race hit two thirds’ distance, the gap shrank to below five seconds. Verstappen then made his second pit stop on lap 44 and rejoined the race in third place, behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Norris again in the lead. With no traffic in front, Norris did his best to build a gap and managed 17 seconds, though Verstappen who was soon in second place responded by throwing down some fast laps, including setting the fastest time of the race on lap 46.
Norris made his final stop at the end of lap 47 and with his fresh tires he started to chase Verstappen who planned to manage his current tires to the end of the race. Both drivers delivered quick laps, but with Verstappen on an older set of rubber the gap continued to shrink until it was just a couple of seconds at the closing laps. Verstappen kept his cool and managed to stay in front and finish ahead of Norris.
After Hamilton in third, fourth place went to Russell, with Leclerc in fifth ahead of fellow Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz in sixth.
Following the weekend’s action, Verstappen’s points tally in the 2024 Drivers’ Championship has moved up to 219 points. Norris is second with 150 points and Leclerc is third with 148 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull leads with 330 points. Ferrari is second with 270 points, and McLaren is third with 237 points.
The next race on the calendar is the Austrian Grand Prix on this coming weekend.
