Max Verstappen leads the Spanish Grand Prix from start to finish to complete a dominant weekend; Lewis Hamilton second ahead of team-mate George Russell as upgraded Mercedes shows significant improvement; Verstappen extends world champions lead to 53 points
Monday 5 June 2023 06:22, UK
Red Bull's Max Verstappen produced a dominant performance to ease to victory at the Spanish Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell completed the podium in an improved Mercedes display.
The world championship leader led from start to finish, after topping all three practice sessions and Qualifying at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, eventually finishing 25 seconds clear of Hamilton.
The victory, which came with an additional point as Verstappen set the fastest lap in the final stages, extended his world championship lead to 53 points over team-mate Sergio Perez, who recovered from starting 11th to finish fourth.
While they were no match for Verstappen, Mercedes showed massive improvements in their heavily upgraded car, with the W14 clearly the second fastest on the track as they pulled comfortably clear of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who finished fifth.
Also unable to match Mercedes were Aston Martin, with Lance Stroll finishing sixth, and in front of team-mate Fernando Alonso for the first time this season, with the Spaniard seventh after a challenging weekend at his home race.
Esteban Ocon maintained Alpine's recent upturn in form to finish eighth, while team-mate Pierre Gasly took the final point after Yuki Tsunoda received a five-second penalty for impeding Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu, who claimed an impressive ninth.
Verstappen's win extends Red Bull's streak to seven victories to start the 2023 season, with the Dutchman in imperious form as he continues his quest for a third successive drivers' title.
Red Bull's lead in the constructors' championship grows to 135 points, with Mercedes moving above Aston Martin into second.
Spanish GP Race Result
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3) George Russell, Mercedes
4) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
5) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
6) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
7) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
8) Esteban Ocon, Alpine
9) Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo
10) Pierre Gasly, Alpine
After emerging victorious in Monaco last weekend at a track where Red Bull were expected to face their stiffest challenge of 2023 to date, Verstappen was always expected to be particularly difficult to beat at the more traditional Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Those predictions were proved accurate, as the Dutchman came through the weekend to claim victory with plenty to spare.
The most pressure he faced was from Ferrari's Sainz at the first corner, but he overcame what appeared to be a slightly inferior start to hold the lead, and from there cruised into the distance.
Having not even needed a second run in the final part of Qualifying to secure pole on Saturday, Verstappen once more appeared to have plenty in hand, only showing his true pace in the closing stages to seal the extra point available for the fastest lap of the race.
"I had the harder compound so I knew the start would be a bit tricky," he said after the race. "Going around the outside at Turn One is always quite difficult but luckily nothing happened.
"We had another strong weekend and that's what I like to see from myself and the team, so hopefully we can keep that up throughout the year."
The most jeopardy he faced was a black and white flag for exceeding track limits on three separate occasions, but the five-second penalty he would have got for doing it again would not have made any difference.
With Verstappen having now claimed five victories in the opening seven races of the season, and the RB19 appearing unbeatable in his hands, thoughts will begin to shift towards whether he can match or better the record 15 wins he secured in 2022.
After the calling-off of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix due to flooding in northern Italy earlier this month, Mercedes were left to debut their long-awaited upgrades in Monaco at the unique street circuit where it was near-impossible to assess the changes.
As a result, there was major anticipation coming to Barcelona as to how the W14 would perform after the team abandoned its 'zero-sidepod' concept, and also added a new floor, rear suspension and diffuser.
It had been unclear until Sunday how much progress had been made, but the results brought exactly what Hamilton had been hoping for after the frustration of early-season when he admitted to "counting the days" until the upgrades.
Starting from fourth, Hamilton passed Lando Norris for third into the first corner, but then faced a moment of major jeopardy as the McLaren made contact with the rear of the Mercedes, which had slowed to avoid a collision with Sainz in front.
Fortunately for Hamilton it was Norris who came off worse, with front wing damage forcing the McLaren to pit and dropping him to last, instantly undoing a brilliant Qualifying performance.
Hamilton appeared momentarily unsettled and was overtaken by Stroll behind him, but reassured there was no damage to his car, retook the place and set about catching chasing Sainz.
It was ultimately a non-contest, with Hamilton easing past Sainz on lap 28, before enjoying a comfortable second half of the race to claim just his second podium of the season.
A delighted Hamilton said: "We definitely didn't expect to have the result we had today, so I just really want to take my hat off to my team and say a big, big thank you to everyone back at the factory for continuing to push and bring us a little bit closer to the Bulls.
"They are still a bit ahead, but we'll keep chasing them down. This is an amazing result."
Russell had looked out of sorts in the upgraded car all weekend and could only qualify 12th, but got off to the perfect start, jumping five places at the start - and crucially avoiding any penalty for going off track in the opening corners.
From there, his pace was similarly strong to Hamilton's, and he made passes on Alonso, Ocon, and Sainz to move behind his team-mate.
Perez, whose progress from 11th on the grid was more steady, threatened to challenge Russell in the closing stages, but ultimately didn't have quite enough pace and finished three seconds behind the Brit.
With Alonso having claimed five podiums in his first six races with 2023's surprise package Aston Martin, there was huge optimism around the Spaniard coming into his home race.
An error in the first part of Qualifying on Saturday saw him suffer a damaged floor, which limited his performance for the remainder of the session as he finished eighth, and behind team-mate Stroll for the first time this season.
While Aston Martin said ahead of the race the floor had been fully repaired, Alonso was unable to find the pace that has made him Red Bull's closest challenger through the opening races.
Unable to match the Mercedes cars, Perez or Sainz, Alonso was left to settle for seventh following a late overtake on former Alpine team-mate Ocon.
That left him directly behind Stroll on track, but Alonso assured the team he would not try to force a reversal, later explaining that it was not worth jeopardising the result for the sake of two more points.
Stroll, whose father Lawrence is the team's owner, will hope to build on finishing ahead of the 41-year-old Alonso, with scrutiny likely to be on the Canadian ahead of his home race in two weeks' time.
Leclerc started from the pits after an abysmal Saturday saw him qualify 19th, before accepting a pit lane start having made changes to a Ferrari that he said there was "something off" with.
Inspections from the team found nothing wrong with the SF-23, which was also debuting significant upgrades, and changes to his setup - along with a new gearbox - appeared to make little difference on Sunday.
He was unable to make significant early inroads, and ultimately didn't have the pace to overcome Gasly's Alpine for the final points position.
Having started the season as the driver most expected to Verstappen's biggest title rival, Leclerc is seventh in the drivers' standings after seven races, with this a third scoreless weekend of the campaign.
