Spanish Grand Prix: Verstappen Excels
Dutchman Drags his Red Bull to Another Win
The Spanish Grand Prix was always going to struggle to live up to the excellent race in Canada it followed. While the hoped-for Verstappen-Norris battle on track never quite emerged, there were some intriguing strategic calls which helped the McLaren driver partially overcome his poor start. The tale of the race, though, was Verstappen driving very well indeed.
Verstappen Makes the Difference
Verstappen had a good start, passing Norris, but was himself passed by the rocketship known as George Russell. This meant the Dutchman retained his 2nd place but with Norris behind rather than ahead of him. Dispatching Russell with seeming ease, Verstappen immediately escaped DRS range, and this was crucial. Norris was fast all race long, often quicker than Verstappen, but he was unable to get past Russell. This meant that the champion was able to build up a gap that would prove critical come the race’s end.
I liked McLaren’s clever call to have a deliberately long initial stint for much fresher tyres, enabling Norris to carve through the field. Come the final stint (it was a two stop race) Norris was the fastest man on track, and catching Verstappen quickly. However, the Red Bull driver had built up a sufficient gap to see himself to yet another victory.
His car was not the fastest, but the rapid pass on Russell early on combined with the exact right mix of pushing the pace and keeping tyres alive allowed Verstappen to claim the win. An on-track duel with Norris would’ve been fun, but the racecraft of the champion is what sets him apart from his rivals.
Ferrari Drift Back
It’s not so long ago that Ferrari seemed a serious threat to Red Bull. Both drivers were highly consistent, they had a double podium in Monaco, and looked likely to claim the Constructor title. That’s still possible but the last couple of races have been ones to forget.
Canada was a catastrophe of a double DNF and middling pace, and Spain saw them have a more normal weekend but finish 5th and 6th without ever seeming at risk of ending up on the podium.
And that finish was with a poor qualifying for Piastri (and Perez, although that seems pretty normal, sadly). The Ferrari has gone down to being the fourth fastest car.
Development can make all the difference. The Red Bull has also lost a lot of pace relative to McLaren and Mercedes, and right now it’s not the car cruising to victory but Verstappen dragging it to glory. There’s still plenty of scope for Ferrari to bounce back. But, right now, they’re looking a step behind their rivals.
If the season ends this way, Hamilton might end up regretting jumping ship. He made a great call moving to Mercedes from McLaren, and time will tell if this also turns out to be a well-judged move.
Alpine and Haas Tussle Continues
Pre-season both Alpine and Haas seemed to have utterly terrible cars, and this continued to be the case for Alpine in the first few races. Since then, a nice little rivalry has built up and Alpine have developed a habit of scoring. It was a double points finish in Spain (entirely on merit as there was not a single retirement) for Alpine with Gasly 9th and Ocon 10th.
Hulkenberg, alas, collected his fifth 11th place of the season. Despite that, he remains (on 6 points) just ahead of both Alpine chaps, as Gasly has 5 and Ocon 3 points. Magnussen is on 1, although it’s worth remembering he has sometimes played the team game, holding up competitors to give Hulkenberg a better shot at points.
Lately, things have been going Alpine’s way, and I’m both impressed and surprised they’ve managed to turn around a car that looked atrocious not so long ago.
RB’s Update Failure
RB (not Red Bull but the junior team also known as VCARB, RB Honda, and, laughably, Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team) were kind to show Aston Martin they’re not the only ones who can botch an update package. The team are still occupying the Alpine role of 2023, a No Man’s Land between the top group and midfield.
But the large update package that was added this weekend did not work nearly as well as the upgrades that have transformed the fortunes of McLaren and Mercedes.
Instead, both Tsunoda and Ricciardo were out in Q1, and neither looked like scoring. Ricciardo finished 15th and Tsunoda 19th. That’s pretty horrendous. In the six races pre-Canada, Tsunoda scored at five races and only failed when he had a DNF.
In Canada and Spain, he scored no points. Ricciardo scored 4 points in Canada and his 15th in Spain was several places higher than his team mate but still miles off the points.
The Alpine resurgence and Hulkenberg being in or close to the points almost everywhere means that unless RB sort this out they will struggle to pick up the last few points and might even end up getting passed in the Constructor standings. Currently, they’re on 28 points against Alpine’s 8 and Haas on 7. I suspect they’ll retain their position but they need to pick up the pace.
Richard
