Verstappen reigns supreme in Spain against a fighting Norris

All of the talk during the weekend was about how Verstappen's era of dominance has come to an end, but the Dutchman still managed to find a way of winning the Grand Prix. He had to work for it, but his consistency, combined with a sublime pitstop and Red Bull strategy, ensured that Norris couldn't fight back. Still, Norris and McLaren made the Austrian team sweat and will continue to do so through the coming races. Norris will left wondering what would've happened with a better start.

Lewis Hamilton got the better of his teammate. Russell tried the hard tyres in the final stint but reported negative feelings, so Mercedes put Hamilton on the softs. Hamilton made the move on his teammate for P3 to secure his first podium of the 2024 Formula 1 season. Ferrari couldn't advance and just ended up battling against each other. This included contact in the early part of the race. In the end, Leclerc got the better of the home favourite.

Perez just couldn't work his way through the field. The Mexican didn't have a good qualifying, combined with a three-place grid penalty. All eyes were on the ground he could make in the race, but he only managed 8th place.

Alpine ended the weekend in Spain on a high. Whereas they were right at the back of the grid in the early part of the season, both drivers scored points in the Spanish Grand Prix. 

How the Spanish Grand Prix happened

Norris started the race from pole position, with Verstappen in second place. Hamilton started from third place and Russell from fourth. Leclerc and Sainz were the next drivers on the grid. Perez's grid penalty he received for unsafe driving in Canada meant he started the race from 11th, leaving Verstappen alone. Oscar Piastri was also down the grid away from his teammate due to a mistake in Q3. All drivers started on the soft tyres, apart from Albon in the pitlane. Norris and Ferrari started on new softs, while Verstappen and Mercedes had used softs.

Russell used the tow on the run down to the first corner and took the lead. Norris didn't get off the line well, which gave Verstappen the chance to overtake the Brit. Verstappen remained in second until he utilised the DRS and overtook Russell for the lead at turn one. The Red Bull driver moved out of DRS range almost immediately. Meanwhile, Sainz and Leclerc had a small amount of contact at turn one.

Around lap 10, Russell really started to drop back on Verstappen. This caused a backlog for the top cars behind and gave the Dutchman an advantage. In the end, Russell had dropped back 4.5 seconds to Verstappen and pitted on lap 16. Mercedes had a slow pitstop, which put him very close to Carlos Sainz in the pitlane. Despite the slow stop, Russell stayed ahead of Hamilton when the seven-time World Champion pitted, who had to get his elbows out to regain a place on Sainz. The stewards noticed the incident but didn't investigate further.

Verstappen reacted with new mediums on lap 18. Norris decided to stay out to build a tyre delta. He came in on lap 24 for medium tyres. He dropped to sixth place, more than 10 seconds behind Verstappen. Norris worked his way back to P3 on lap 32. He had to duel with Russell but made the overtake for P2 stick on lap 35. Verstappen had a 9.5-second lead.

Norris hunts down Verstappen

Norris closed the gap to 4.4 seconds, and Red Bull decided to use the new set of soft tyres to finish the race. McLaren told Norris, "This is our chance", and the Brit reacted by setting a purple lap time in sector one. Verstappen replied with the fastest lap on his new tyres. After a debate on the pit radio, McLaren boxed Norris at the end of lap 47. They had a slow 3.6-second stop, but he just stayed ahead of Russell to hold P2. His gap to Verstappen was eight seconds. With ten laps left, Norris had the gap down at 5.4 seconds. Norris just didn't have enough pace or time to get within the DRS range.