Max Verstappen has led home Lando Norris for victory in this morning’s Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The front two put over 17 seconds on third-placed Lewis Hamilton as an intriguing race-long strategy battle played out between McLaren and Red Bull.
Both outfits ran a two-stop strategy, but McLaren kept Norris out longer in each pit cycle, losing time through a powerful undercut but gaining it back on fresher tyres.
Once both had completed their final stops, Norris was tasked with overturning an 8-second advantage in the closing 18 laps. It proved a bridge too far, with the championship leader crossing the line just 2.219 seconds ahead of his closest rival.
Hamilton was a distant 17.79 seconds behind to complete the podium, while George Russell held off a late challenge from Charles Leclerc, who ran a similar strategy to Norris, for fourth.
Carlos Sainz finished behind his Ferrari teammate in sixth, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, and Esteban Ocon, who completed the top ten.
All 20 cars finished a race that featured no yellow flags or interruptions.
Norris admitted the Grand Prix was lost for him off the start, with Verstappen getting a better launch off the front row than the pole-sitter.
The McLaren squeezed the Red Bull to the right and partially onto the grass as it covered. A gap and a good draft opened the door for George Russell, who dove across and ran around the outside at Turn 1 to take the lead.
With Verstappen on the inside and Russell outside, Norris was forced to brake and dropped to third.
Fernando Alonso, who started tenth, took contact in the mid-field and used the run-off, re-joining down the order.
Russell’s time at the front lasted just two laps, with Verstappen utilising a powerful DRS to take the lead at Turn 1 on Lap 3.
The reigning World Champion slowly extended his advantage over the following lap as Norris closed in on Russell and Hamilton following suit. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz ran fifth and sixth and remained close to those ahead.
Perez, who started 11th and struggled to make ground early, was amongst the first to stop on Lap 13, remaining on soft tyres.
Russell and Sainz followed two tours later, with the Mercedes’ advantage wiped out due to a slow change of the right rear tyre. Russell held the position as he exited the pit lane but had Sainz directly behind.
Hamilton came in for his first stop on Lap 16 and lost out to Sainz, indicating the power of the undercut.
Verstappen’s advantage sat at five seconds when he made his first stop, switching from soft to mediums in a blistering 1.9-second tyre change from the Red Bull crew.
Hamilton took his position back from Sainz at Turn 1 on Lap 19 as Norris and Leclerc remained out.
The McLaren finally stopped on Lap 24, sacrificing track position and emerging behind Russell, Hamilton, and Sainz. He was 11 seconds adrift of the lead but on six-lap fresher tyres.
Leclerc followed on Lap 24, also losing out to Gasly.
Norris quickly ate into the advantage of the leading quartet, but the gap to Verstappen stagnated as he overtook Sainz (Lap 27), Hamilton (Lap 32) and Russell (Lap 35).
Russell initially fought the Miami Grand Prix winner, and the duo exchanged places twice between Turns 1 and 7, with Norris eventually coming out ahead.
Now 9.5 seconds behind the leader, in second, Norris quickly ate into the advantage and was only 4.5 seconds behind when Verstappen stopped and swapped back to softs on Lap 44.
McLaren responded on Lap 47 with a slower stop, putting him in Russell’s reach. Norris ran a defensive line through Turn 1 to hold the position before pulling clear on fresher tyres.
With 18 laps to go, eight seconds separated the pair, and the advantage reduced each lap. Norris set the fastest lap as he hunted down the leader.
Verstappen responded with a flurry of fast laps in the closing stages to put the race beyond reach for his rivals, with Norris only bringing the gap to under four seconds over the final laps.
The win is Verstappen’s seventh of 2024 and the fifth time in the last six races that he and Norris have finished in the top two.
Formula 1 returns next weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Header Image: Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
