Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona last Sunday after early race dominator Charles Leclerc was forced to retire his Ferrari when it lost power.
Leclerc was cruising out front when he lost power on Lap 27, handing the lead to Mercedes’ George Russell. Perez passed the Mercedes just before half distance to hit the front, but Verstappen charged past him towards the end of the race to score his fourth win of the season.
MERCEDES: (George Russell 3, Lewis Hamilton 5) – Russell took his second podium finish of the campaign and continued his run as the only driver to finish every race in the top five. Magnussen started eighth but was in the gravel before the end of lap one after a collision with Hamilton, which also gave his car a puncture.
Lewis Hamilton believed he could have fought against the Red Bulls in the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix had it not been for his first-lap clash with Kevin Magnussen.
Mercedes brought a raft of updates to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix, but Hamilton said he was still struggling with the W13 car in qualifying, leaving him sixth on the grid.
Contact with Haas driver Magnussen on the opening lap caused Hamilton to slow and forced him into an early pitstop, leaving him over 50 seconds off the leader at the end of the opening lap.
Hamilton asked Mercedes over the radio if it would be worth saving the engine on his car, only to be told that he could still finish as high as eighth.
But Hamilton ultimately clawed his way back up to fifth at the chequered flag, having only lost fourth place to Carlos Sainz in the closing stages when a water leak forced him to slow down.
RED BULL: (Max Verstappen 1, Sergio Perez 2) – Third win in a row and fourth in six races for Verstappen, who now leads Leclerc by six points. The champion started second but reacted slower than the Ferrari driver. He battled Russell for second but dropped to fourth after going into the gravel on lap nine, blaming the wind. Verstappen made three stops, starting on soft tyres and ending on mediums. His drag reduction system was erratic.
Perez led on lap 30, pitting again on lap 40 and obeying orders to let Verstappen pass. The Mexican took a bonus point for the fastest lap. Red Bull took the lead in the constructors’ standings from Ferrari.
