Max Verstappen overcame the comeback challenge of a fast Lando Norris to pull off an impressive Spanish GP win and stretch his F1 world championship lead.
Left to regret a poor start which dropped him from pole position to third place coming out of the race’s first corner – in significant opening exchanges which saw Mercedes’ George Russell surge into the lead from fourth – Norris attempted to get back ahead into the lead through strategy as McLaren extended both of his pit stops compared with Verstappen and Red Bull.
But, despite relentlessly catching Verstappen in the closing stages of the race, Norris ultimately ran out of time and finished 2.2s behind at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as the Red Bull driver hung on for his seventh win of an increasingly competitive season.
Lewis Hamilton finally ended his wait for a first podium in 2024 with a fine drive of his own to third.
Although he dropped behind his fast-starting team-mate at the start, Hamilton overtook Russell after the second stops with an eye-catching around-the-outside move on the sister Mercedes into Turn One.
Russell, who struggled on his second set of tyres when he went on to the hards while others, including Hamilton, took the softs, just finished ahead of fifth-placed Charles Leclerc, with Ferrari finishing over 20s off the race lead in a disappointing performance.
Carlos Sainz, who overtook Leclerc early on but was repassed later on, was sixth at his home race. Oscar Piastri was seventh in the second McLaren at the end of a disappointing weekend for the young Australian, with Sergio Perez only able to recover to eighth from 11th on the grid in the other Red Bull.
Alpine’s unexpectedly strong weekend ended with a much-needed double-points finish for the under-pressure Enstone team, with Pierre Gasly ninth and Esteban Ocon 10th.
More to follow…
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