The intriguing and surprising Verstappen-Norris rivalry which has been brewing for several weeks continued on Sunday on the Barcelona-Catalonia circuit. And as in Montreal, the Red Bull had the upper hand over the McLaren.
Not so long ago, Lando Norris would have been happy with a second place. Not anymore, when he has in his hands a car capable of challenging that of the three-time reigning champion.
Starting first, the Briton did not have a good start and found himself third behind George Russell and Max Verstappen. Gradually, he went back up the slope. Second at the end of the race, he tried everything in the last 10 laps. With 8.3 seconds behind the Dutchman, he pushed and pushed again until reducing the gap to 6 seconds, then 4, stringing together the fastest laps. To hell with tire conservation!
The McLaren finally crossed the finish line just 2 seconds behind the Red Bull. Behind them, a surprise: Lewis Hamilton, in a Mercedes which is having good times, achieved his first podium since last October, in Mexico.
PHOTO JOSEP LAGO, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
From left to right: Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on the podium
“I should have won,” said a dissatisfied Norris at the F1 microphone, a few minutes after getting out of his car. “I had a bad start. The car was incredible today, definitely the fastest. I just lost the race at the start, so I’m disappointed. »
There are many positives and only one negative; I ruined everything. I know it.
Lando Norris
For Verstappen, it is a second consecutive victory and a seventh this season. However, the champion hasn’t had it so easy lately. Again on Sunday, he had to adopt an “aggressive” strategy. In the third round, he overtook George Russell, who had brilliantly outstripped everyone at the start. He then managed his tires to perfection to stay in front and race towards victory.
“It was close at the end, but I’m very happy to win here,” he said.
Add two laps to this race, and who knows what Norris, who also managed the fastest lap, could have done…
With the 7e place of Oscar Piastri and the disappointing 8e instead of Sergio Pérez, Red Bull ends the weekend with four points more than McLaren.
Mercedes’ good times
There was something refreshing about seeing Hamilton and Verstappen side by side on the podium.
PHOTO THOMAS COEX, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Lewis Hamilton
Things are going well for Mercedes recently. After Russell’s third place in Montreal, the seven-time world champion is responsible for offering the Silver Arrows another podium.
Russell, who had started well by overtaking Norris and Verstappen at the start, took 4e place. Total points for Mercedes this weekend: 27. Slowly, but surely, the team is trying to climb back towards the top 3 builders.
“A bit like Lando, I had a really bad start and obviously lost ground to the Ferraris,” Hamilton said. It’s been a battle to get back to where I am. With a better start we might have been able to follow the guys ahead. »
The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz fils finished respectively in the 5e and 6e ranks. The Scuderia therefore had a much better weekend than in Montreal, but a worse one than the Mercedes.
Surprise and disappointment
In this race where two stops are necessary, we suspected that we would be entitled to action. This action materialized in the form of superb overtaking, while no driver made a major error forcing them to retire.
In terms of surprises: Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished in 9e and 10e place, collecting three points as they had done in Canada. Good sign for Alpine, which had an atrocious start to the season.
And in terms of disappointments? No points for Aston Martin, for the second time in three races. Party 10eFernando Alonso could not do better than 12e place. As for Lance Stroll, he ended up where he started, in 14e place.
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