There were no easy rides at the dramatic, eventful Spanish Grand Prix, but perseverance was certainly rewarded. In fact, for Mercedes, the tide turned to Barcelona, with Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth, falling to 19th, and his teammate George Russell finishing third. Positive proof that their car is on the way for another challenge ahead. Max Verstappen’s victory was a fight against the odds due to technical problems that allowed him to jump into an unexpected lead in the championship.
The festive atmosphere at Red Bull was in stark contrast to Ferrari’s broken heart. Charles Leclerc dominated the pole as his race disintegrated with a powertrain breakdown just in the middle of the road. Leclerc’s 19-point lead in the drivers’ championship turned to a six-point lead for Verstappen after six games with 16 races left.
The title remains a distant dream for Mercedes, but Hamilton acknowledged the importance of his return, arguing that Mercedes could still be on the winning streak.
“Racing like this is like winning and it feels better than winning when you came from so far back,” Hamilton said. “This is a great sign that we are moving in the right direction and it gives me great hope that at some point we will fight for victory.
In the same way, Russell’s third place was excellent and well deserved – won with pace and merit, it also represented the potential in both the car and the pilot.
“As a team, I feel like we’ve turned the page, I feel like this is the beginning of our season,” Russell said. “We have finally solved our problem and now we can focus on achieving more productivity. We are six races behind, but there is no reason why we cannot get it back. ”
This was the weekend that Mercedes defined as a brand or a breakthrough in assessing whether their concept for this year is stable enough to continue to be pursued in next year’s model or whether – as team director Toto Wolf noted – it’s time to admit that they were mistaken. There will be huge sighs of relief from Barcelona back to Brackley that their performance shows that the design really has legs and a potentially scary pace in them in the future.
Charles Leclerc led the Spanish Grand Prix to Max Verstappen before the Ferrari driver was forced to retire. Photo: Gabriel Bouys / AFP / Getty Images
Mercedes had brought a number of improvements to Barcelona, the latest steps to tackle their guinea pig car problem and have now largely eliminated the problem. The car’s bounce was drastically reduced, now a problem only through fast turns, and they showed a better pace in Barcelona than in any of the previous five meetings. Russell competed brilliantly with Verstappen, and it would be unthinkable for Hamilton to enter the field with the car that opened the season.
Hamilton had a disastrous start. Starting on the sixth, he was undercut by Kevin Magnussen on the fourth turn in the first lap. Hamilton failed to break through and came out in 19th place. He felt damaged and offered to withdraw the car, but was encouraged to compete with the team. Properly bowing his head, the seven-time world champion made several superb laps to take a fourth near the end, only to have to slow down due to a water leak, allowing Carlos Sainz of Ferrari to return to the spot.
Wolff’s reaction to his performance reflects how far they feel the team has come. “Luis and I probably had the fastest race car today,” he said. “He was the fastest in the stages of the race and that shows the potential that the car has. It looked like a World Cup car driving. “
For Verstappen, the win was also a reversal that seemed unthinkable for much of the race, with Leclerc enjoying a dominant lead. However, Verstappen and Red Bull stuck to their task and presented an adaptive strategy to ensure an impressive victory.
It didn’t seem like his day at all. Verstappen was out on the gravel after an unusual mistake caused by a strong tailwind in the fourth turn, as he lost the back, dropping him to fourth in the start. At the time, a malfunctioning DRS device meant that Verstappen could not pass Russell easily. Their wheel-to-wheel battle through turns from one to three was as spectacular scrap as we saw this year; boisterous but fair, it was a thriller.
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Because Russell defended so steadily, Red Bull adapted his strategy, directing Verstappen to attack new tires, and he took pleasure. He was rewarded, finally appearing in front of Russell and behind his teammate Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver was not surprisingly informed by the team that he should miss Verstappen if he is faster.
Perez was unhappy, describing it as “unfair.” But he played the game, allowing Verstappen to advance to lap 48 and settle for second place.
It was at the beginning of the year for team orders, but it was understandable. Red Bull, expecting a title fight of the season with Ferrari – and now with Mercedes announcing its intention to join the battle – backed the driver at the sharp end of what could still be a two-way battle.
Valteri Botas was sixth for Alfa Romeo with Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso seventh and ninth for Alpine. Lando Norris was eighth for McLaren and Yuki Tsunoda was 10th for AlphaTauri.
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