Max Verstappen cruises to Spanish Grand Prix victory, Lewis Hamilton shows class to finish second
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Updated 04/06/2023 at 22:42 GMT
The Spanish Grand Prix was a Sunday afternoon cruise at the Circuit of Catalunya for a magical Max Verstappen as he breezed his way to a fifth win of the 2023 Formula 1 season in his Red Bull. The Dutch driver was dominant in qualifying and repeated the dose in the historic Barcelona race, as he got off the line in front and never saw another rival over the course of the 66 laps in Spain.
Verstappen on his dominant victory in the Spanish GP
Max Verstappen cruised to his fifth win of the season with another stylish victory for his rampant Red Bull at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, as Mercedes showed positive signs for the remainder of the year.
Starting in the 24th pole of his career, the flying Dutchman fended off a brief challenge from home hope Carlos Sainz off the line and from that moment on was utterly untroubled apart from the threat of rain overhead that never materialised.
As his one-man procession to the chequered flag gathered pace, he was also given three warnings and a black and white flag for exceeding track limits in the closing stages.
It mattered little as he nursed home his lead over the final six laps without incurring a five-second time penalty to finish over 23 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes which also included a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race.
Mercedes had endured a mixed time in qualifying on the back of their upgrades, but British pair Hamilton and George Russell, who started from P12 on the grid, displayed excellent race pace and course management to take second and third respectively at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Verstappen increases his lead over Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez to a formidable 53 points after only seven rounds of this year's World Championship with a third Spanish GP victory accompanying his previous successes in 2016 and 2022.
"It's a big pleasure to drive with a car like this. I think it showed again today," said Verstappen, who is chasing a third straight world title after a 40th career win.
"We had quite a lot of different strategies out there. For most of the race, we were on the right one but a win here, it's incredible.
"I had the harder compound so knew the start would be a bit tricky. 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."
Perez was forced to settle for fourth despite a rate rally with Sainz fifth for Ferrari and the Aston Martin duo of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso coming over the line together in sixth and seventh after a fierce jostle for points further down the field.
Verstappen moves onto 170 points from seven races with Perez on a distant 117.
Ahead of the eighth round of the season in Canada in a fortnight's time, it already feels like the field are competing for second place behind the world champion, who has also won in Bahrain, Melbourne, Miami and Monaco this season.
Hamilton was happy with his performance that sees him consolidate fourth spot in the World Championship. He is 12 points behind third-placed Alonso.
"What a result for our team," he said. "We definitely didn't expect to have the result we had today. I just 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 and George did a great job as well.
"I think they are a little bit too quick at the moment, but we are working at it, one step at a time. If we can get close by the end of the year, that would be awesome."
SPANISH GP FINAL STANDINGS
- 1. Max Verstappen
- 2. Lewis Hamilton +24.090
- 3. George Russell +32.389
- 4. Sergio Perez +35.812
- 5. Carlos Sainz +45.698
- 6. Lance Stroll +63.320
- 7. Fernando Alonso +64.127
- 8. Esteban Ocon +69.242
- 9. Zhou Guanyu +71.878
- 10. Pierre Gasly +73.530
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