Just one week after the Monaco Grand Prix, Formula One was back in action in Spain for the FORMULA 1 AWS GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2023 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. After managing to top the time sheets in all three practice sessions and earn pole position, Max Verstappen was in a league of his own. His eyes were set on earning his third consecutive win this season.
It was an even start between the top three. Lewis Hamilton braked later than Lando Norris in the first corner, taking P3 from the McLaren driver. At the front, Carlos Sainz stuck around the outside of the first corner, driving fully alongside the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Verstappen moved squeezed the Ferrari on the exit of the corner, leaving no space for Sainz and forcing him to back off to avoid collision. This backed up Hamilton and caught Norris off-guard. Norris hit the rear tyre of Hamilton, damaging his front wing and forcing him to pit at the end of the lap for a new one.
George Russell caught the attention of the stewards, having cut the first corners. He managed to gain multiple positions on the opening lap. The stewards looked into his first lap, but determined that he had rejoined the circuit correctly, so no action was necessary.
There were a variety of overtakes throughout the circuit, especially around the outside of the first corner, likely thanks to the removal of the final chicane to make it faster.
Carlos Sainz as the first of the top drivers to pit for medium compound tyres on lap 15. Rather than covering off the undercut, which was very powerful at this circuit, Mercedes opted to extend the first stint for both of their drivers to give them fresher tyres and different strategy options later in the race. Hamilton eventually pitted for medium tyres on lap 25, followed by Russell the next lap. Hamilton rejoined behind Sainz, but it only took a few laps for the Brit to cruise by the Ferrari for P2.
A few laps after pitting, Russell complained it was raining in turn 5, although he was the only driver to do so. The weather forecast did include small pockets of rain, but not over the circuit. He radioed the team a few laps later to clarify that it may have been sweat on his visor, providing his pit wall a bit of a chuckle.
Max Verstappen swapped his medium tyres for a set of hard tyres on lap 27. His massive lead was such that he was able to rejoin the race still in the lead over this teammate. Sergio Perez pitted the following lap for the hard tyres as well, releasing the Mercedes drivers back into the podium places.
Formula One will take a short break from Europe, hopping across the pond to Canada for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. Race will be held on the weekend of June 18.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. Verstappen | 26 | |
| 2 | L. Hamilton | 18 | |
| 3 | G. Russell | 15 | |
| 4 | S. Perez | 12 | |
| 5 | C. Sainz | 10 | |
| 6 | L. Stroll | 8 | |
| 7 | F. Alonso | 6 | |
| 8 | E. Ocon | 4 | |
| 9 | G. Zhou | 2 | |
| 10 | P. Gasly | 1 | |
| 11 | C. Leclerc | ||
| 12 | Y. Tsunoda | ||
| 13 | O. Piastri | ||
| 14 | N. de Vries | ||
| 15 | N. Hulkenberg | ||
| 16 | A. Albon | ||
| 17 | L. Norris | ||
| 18 | K. Magnussen | ||
| 19 | V. Bottas | ||
| 20 | L. Sargeant | ||
