TOP 3
1. Max Verstappen confirms once again but with difficulty
Max Verstappen won this Sunday ahead of Lando Norris. The Dutchman got the better of the Briton and signed his seventh victory this season. In pain all the same since he had to manage a particularly aggressive McLaren. Despite the pressure, the three-time world champion took the checkered flag 2.2 seconds ahead of pole man, Lando Norris. The Dutch driver therefore compiled his fourth victory on the Montmelo track after 2016, 2022 and 2023. Max Verstappen confirms his lead this season and is getting closer to a new world champion title.
“Once again it was a complicated race, taking the lead on lap 2 saved us, that first opportunity with DRS because my main rival was Lando Norris and we were able to create the gap in that first stint and that was the gap I needed to win the race. After that, he was clearly the quicker car with better tyre management. That’s why he got so close at the end. I was flat out but I couldn’t push any more with those tyres because I didn’t have enough grip. The others are getting closer, we’re struggling a bit more but we have to push until the end and fortunately it was enough.” declared Max Verstappen at the microphone of Canal+
2.Lando Norris confirms
Starting from pole position this weekend, Lando Norris paid the price for his completely botched start. He lost important places from the first corner but once again, the Briton did perfectly well. He managed to regain the advantage over his rival George Russell, who pulled off a masterstroke at the first corner. The McLaren driver, after taking second position on the circuit, had only one thing on his mind: to catch Max Verstappen back in the lead. By showing himself to be very threatening, Lando Norris managed to shave off very important seconds, reducing the gap from 7 seconds to just 2.2 seconds in the space of just ten laps.
Once again, the 24-year-old driver made everyone agree. He became the driver to fear on the track. Significant pressure which allows him to achieve clean overtaking and more and more podiums.
“I had a bad start, I was stuck behind George Russell and Max Verstappen escaped. At the end of each stint we were fast but it wasn’t enough today. It’s a shame we should have won. This one is my fault” said the driver after the race.
3. Alpine is reborn
The Spanish Grand Prix was the best since the start of the season for Alpine. A flawless weekend by our two Frenchmen, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, who managed to place their two cars in the top 10. Pierre Gasly took ninth place and Esteban Ocon took tenth place. Good results and finally points for the French team. This great performance from the Spanish weekend allowed the team to gain a place in the general classification of the constructors’ world championship. Alpine overtook Haas and is now seventh with eight points. The arrowed A seems to have finally started and a new meeting is approaching with the Austrian Grand Prix on June 30, an opportunity to confirm for our two drivers.
“For now, I think we can be very satisfied. It was a very good weekend. We had a good qualifying with both cars in the Top 10. Today, we managed to have a good race by scoring points with both cars. So it was positive. We managed to fight a bit with a McLaren and a Red Bull for a while. It’s a bit of a shame for eighth place, but we know we’re making progress, that’s what’s most important. It’s true that here, things worked much better than we expected. So I think there’s a lot to understand but overall we’re heading in the right direction. So we hope that in Austria we can repeat what we are doing in these last races” confided Pierre Gasly.
Le Flop
1. Sergio Perez dropped
Sergio Perez seems to be in a bad way for a few races. Starting eleventh on the starting grid and finishing eighth during the Spanish Grand Prix, Checo has been experiencing difficulties, particularly since the weekend in Miami a few weeks ago. On the Spanish circuit, the Mexican had to fight more with himself than with the other competitors. What didn’t help matters either during the Spanish weekend was the deterioration of his tires. With bitumen severely degrading the tires, the Red Bull driver experienced some difficulty, particularly in the DRS zone. The driver who extended his contract until 2026 will have the opportunity to return to the forefront this weekend on the famous Austrian circuit.
2. Ferrari in difficulty
Unfortunately, the two Scuderia Ferrari drivers have had a bad weekend after another. Starting fifth and sixth respectively on the Barcelona circuit, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz crossed the chequered flag in the same position. The two drivers still tried to gain a few important places by opting for a well-defined tyre strategy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to get the better of the Mercedes or the McLarens. A bad tyre strategy that the two drivers from the Italian team will probably not use again next weekend in Austria.
“In terms of our strategy, I think we did well to differentiate ourselves from the cars around us. We may have lost a bit of time between our two cars at the beginning of the race, but going forward we will focus on our race pace to get the most out of our package in the next race.”
3. Aston Martin is regressing
The Spanish Grand Prix was an opportunity to see all the single-seaters cross the checkered flag but there were disappointments, particularly on the Aston Martin side. Fernando Alonso did not hide his annoyance since the team lost a place in the general classification, leaving Alpine in front. On Sunday, the green single-seaters did not shine, Fernando Alonso lost positions after being hit at the start. The driver finished twelfth while Lance Stroll had to settle for fourteenth place.
