Verstappen, 24, achieved his fourth victory of the season by winning ahead of ‘Checo’, who signed his eighteenth podium in F1 by finishing second in a race in which he signed the fastest lap; that the Englishman George Russell (Mercedes) finished third; and in which the Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine) – who had started last, changing engine, and starred in the comeback of the day – were classified in fourth and ninth position, respectively.
‘Mad Max’, with problems with the DRS at the beginning and who had the invaluable teamwork of his Mexican teammate, signed his fourth victory in the four races that ended this year; this time in the totally packed and very hot Montmeló circuit: in a race that started with 36 degrees Celsius ambient and 49 on the asphalt; and in which it was obvious that the management of tire degradation was going to be key.
After winning a test in which everyone went to three stops, Verstappen now leads the World Cup with 110 points, six more than Leclerc, who was watered down by the idea of entering the lead at home, in a few days; and with 25 over ‘Checo’, who is still third overall and who, having shown for some time how good a driver he is, confirms every day that he is one of the best team players in history. Sainz maintained fifth place, which he now occupies with 65 points; and Alonso, who advanced one position, is fifteenth, with four units.
Red Bull also took the lead in the Constructors’ World Championship, which it leads with 195 points, 26 more than Ferrari; after a test in which all contenders went to three stops. And that the brave driver from Guadalajara could have won, who acknowledged to Efe at the FIA (International Automobile Federation) press conference that he agrees with this statement, but that despite the fact that they should “discuss some internal matters, not there is nothing that “concerns” him and that he is happy in the Austrian team.
Leclerc started first, after signing his thirteenth pole in F1 on Saturday, the fourth of the season; in a weekend in which before the race he had already led all the time tables except for the second round (Q2) of qualifying, in which he reserved a soft tire to start with new tires . Contrary to Sainz, who changed the chassis of his Ferrari on Saturday and still managed to finish third in the main timed session; but that he faced the exit with used tires. He dreaming, however, of achieving, before his fans, his first victory in the queen category.
Verstappen started second, waiting to confirm the good pace in long runs shown in free practice; with ‘Checo’ fifth on the grid, between the two Mercedes of the English Russell and the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who started sixth and finished fifth. On a day in which the German team -winner of the past eight Constructors’ World Championships, but which had not started the year on the right foot- glimpsed that it may have found the right path.
Alonso, who on Saturday had extended his bad streak of misfortunes, being eliminated in Q1 due to a miscalculation by his engineers – who took him out on the track at the wrong time, so he found too much traffic and had to abort his last attempt -, changed the engine of his Alpine before a race in which, after finishing seventeenth in qualifying, he had little to lose by starting last.
The brilliant Asturian driver, who starred in the great comeback of the day, improving eleven places, started on the soft tyre, like everyone else; except for Hamilton, who did it with the medium.
Leclerc started well, but Carlos – who was passed by Russell and ‘Checo’ – lost two places at once, in a start in which the Dane Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Hamilton touched, who fell to the bottom of the grid. From which Alonso, who had gone from one blow to three -the Chinese Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), the Thai Alex Albon (Williams) and the Canadian Nicholas Latifi (Williams)-, in another of his brilliant starts, was already fourteenth , when the Dane and the seven-time world champion had to stop in garages.
Sainz almost threw away almost all his chances of success on the seventh of 66 laps, in which he spun in the fourth of 16 corners, dropping to eleventh place; one ahead of Alonso, who was already running in the top twelve on the eighth lap. In which he also lost control of his Red Bull -and with it four seats- ‘Mad Max’; who became fourth, behind the top trio, led by Leclerc ahead of Russell and ‘Checo’, who ‘ceded’ third place -in 11th- to the Dutchman.
Alonso and Sainz stopped on the eleventh lap to install a medium tire. The Spaniard from Ferrari advanced to eighth and the double Asturian world champion was eleventh on the sixteenth lap; when Russell and Verstappen had already stopped (at 14) to make the same change; and ‘Checo’ was running second.
The brave driver from Guadalajara, who had made his stop on lap 18, was running fourth while the fight between Russell and Verstappen -who was unable to overtake the Englishman- gave wings to Leclerc, who had a 26-second lead, stopped on lap 21 and He returned to the track leading with a margin of five seconds. When Alonso, tenth, was already rolling in the points zone; and Carlos was sixth.
Verstappen continued his fierce battle with Russell, who defended masterfully, taking advantage of the young Dutch star’s DRS problems. Giving air to Leclerc, who set fast laps and increased his advantage. At the time that ‘Checo’ approached the podium area again.
But the Monegasque ‘broke’ at 28; one before Verstappen stopped again. And two laps before ‘Checo’ passed Russell, with the two Spaniards, who had gained a position thanks to the withdrawal of Charles – “due to a problem not yet identified in the power unit”, as explained by the ‘Scuderia’ -, entering again in garages in the 32, just before the equator of the test. Carlos repeated the medium and Fernando switched back to soft.
Russell and the Jalisco champion – who repeated the media – stopped at 37 and ‘Mad Max’ went on to lead the race ahead of his partner and the Englishman. Moments in which Sainz was running fifth, behind Bottas and ahead of Hamilton; and Alonso was tenth.
Verstappen made a third stop with 21 laps to go to install the middle again, giving the lead to the Mexican, who was told by radio with a hackneyed euphemism to let his colleague pass, something that seemed “unfair” but that he did not He had no choice but to accept. In the end, he considered “a great result for the team” as good and told Efe at the FIA press conference that “the atmosphere in the team is excellent” after signing the third podium of the year and the first in Spain.
Sainz stopped for the third time in the 46, returning to the initial soft and after returning to the track he overtook the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine, seventh this Sunday, behind the Finn Valtteri Bottas, from Alfa Romeo) to place fifth. And Alonso did it in 54 to repeat the softer compound, before completing the day’s comeback to finish ninth.
In lap 60, Hamilton overtook Sainz and snatched fourth place, which he returned to him when he was warned from the garage to slow down as he was at risk of not finishing the race, due to an alleged engine problem. Verstappen – who six years ago became the youngest winner in history on this track – was already sure of his victory and will enter the lead next weekend at Leclerc’s house: confirming that he will defend tooth and nail the recovered number ‘ 1′ with which he replaced his usual ’33’.
