Spanish GP Results: Verstappen win, close battles down the order

The lead Red Bull was out of touch once again but the Spanish GP did not disappoint

The Spanish Grand Prix featured a new layout for the first time since 2007. Gone was the chicane before the front straight. In its place, the short straight was last seen in Formula 1 in 2006. This change was to give drivers more of a chance at overtaking into the first few corners. Those changes paid off on Sunday when looking at the Spanish Grand Prix results.

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has earned a recent reputation for being one of the more boring races on the F1 schedule. This weekend was different. Championship leader Max Verstappen took a dominant pole position by nearly half a second but a jumbled up order behind him made for a more exciting Spanish GP than F1 has seen in a while.

Dynamic conditions in qualifying leads to unusual grid

Heavy rain Saturday morning made for a damp start to qualifying. Multiple drivers went off-track as the conditions started to dry up in certain areas. Surprisingly, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc managed 19th place after a very poor session. That’s the first time he’s been eliminated from Q1 since Monaco 2019. He ended up starting the race from the pit lane.

The track was fully dry by Q2, but more surprises continued. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez went off-track and could only manage 11th. Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and George Russell collided while trying to pass a driver on a cool-down lap. Russell was eliminated in Q2 and started Sunday’s race alongside Pérez in 12th.

In the final qualifying segment, Verstappen turned in his fastest time by nearly half a second. Spaniard Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari joined him on the front row. Lando Norris, in his McLaren was the surprise of Q3. Norris earned his best qualifying result of the season so far with third place. The time difference from Verstappen to Sainz (0.462 seconds) was slightly more significant than the difference between Sainz and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in seventh.

Sunday’s unusual grid had a Ferrari in the pit lane and a Red Bull/Mercedes combination on row six.

Verstappen cruises to third Spanish GP win

Verstappen led from the getaway without any challenges from Sainz in second. Norris’ Saturday heroics were undone in the first few corners. Hamilton had to brake to avoid contact with Sainz, and Norris did not react soon enough. His damaged front wing meant the McLaren driver had to pit at the end of lap one and spend the next 65 laps catching up.

Russell went off-track in the first few corners of the race and gained five positions. The racing stewards decided no investigation was necessary. He then spent most of the race up the top 10. He picked off Sainz following a round of pit stops on a torrid day for Ferrari.

Both Sainz and Leclerc suffered high tire degradation compared to other teams. Leclerc made it up to 11th by the end of the race, but Sainz countered that with a drop from second at the start to a lonely fifth.

Pérez, like Russell, charged up the order in the Spanish GP results. His passes were more steady over the race, and he ended up just three seconds behind Russell by the checkered flag.

Farther down the points, it was a race-long battle for ninth and 10th among the likes of Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Leclerc, and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri). In the end, Zhou and Gasly grabbed the final points places by a few seconds after a questionable penalty on Tsunoda. The Japanese driver was penalized five seconds for forcing Zhou off the track.

Promising qualifying results saw McLaren’s Oscar Piastri start ninth and Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg start seventh. But both dropped down the order to finish 13th and 15th, respectively.

The final Spanish Grand Prix results was as follows: Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Pérez, Sainz, Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Ocon, Zhou, Gasly, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Piastri, Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri), Hülkenberg, Alexander Albon (Williams), Norris, Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), and Logan Sargeant (Williams).

With his pole, win, and fastest lap of the race, Verstappen earned his third career F1 Grand Slam.

What’s next after the Spanish GP

The Spanish Grand Prix results changed the order slightly in the F1 standings. The drivers’ standings didn’t change in order, but Verstappen’s top gap over Pérez now widens to 53 points. Hamilton’s podium closes the gap to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to just 12 points for third place in the F1 standings.

Mercedes’ double-podium finish pushed them to second in the Constructors F1 standings. Red Bull remains more than 100 points ahead in that F1 championship.

Next on the F1 schedule is a quick break from the European F1 races. The Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks could be another exciting race, even if the Red Bulls gap the field again. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has a reputation as one of the more thrilling circuits on the F1 schedule.

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