It was a quiet, uncomplicated day at the office for Max Verstappen, as the Red Bull driver secured his 40th career victory and fifth of the season with little difficulty in the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix.
By contrast it was an unexpectedly strong race for Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton taking second place and George Russell just holding on to the final podium position over Sergio Perez.
However it was a disappointing day for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz dropping to P5 and Charles Leclerc unable to fight back into the points from a pit lane start, and there was a missed opportunity for McLaren's Lando Norris as well.
An eventful qualifying on Saturday had resulted in a fascinating starting grid for today's Spanish Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was on pole as expected, surprisingly on medium tyres when the vast majority of drivers had gone for softs. However the rest of the order had been given a shake-up: Ferrari's Carlos Sainz joined the Red Bull on the front row, but Lando Norris was a surprise P3 for McLaren ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes had been promoted to fourth after a double grid penalty for Pierre Gasly left the Alpine down in tenth.
There were plenty of cars out of position as they lined up for the start of the race: Fernando Alonso only eighth after sustaining floor damage during qualifying; Sergio Perez 11th (and on mediums like his team mate) after missing the cut at the end of the second round; George Russell just 12th after suffering a collision with his team mate Hamilton; and Charles Leclerc not even on the grid at all after Ferrari opted to fit a new rear to the SF-23 overnight after unexplained issues wreaked havoc on his qualifying session. It certainly made for an appetising set-up for the Grand Prix - even if the winner always seemed a foregone conclusion. That is, unless the weather had anything to say about it, with an initial 40 per cent chance of rain hanging over the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya heading to the top of the hour.
It was still perfectly bright and sunny when the lights went out to get the race underway. If the cheers from the crowd could have added to the horsepower of the cars on track, Sainz would have flown straight to the front down into turn 1; but instead it was Verstappen in control, sweeping across to convert pole to the lead and ward off Sainz, who had to focus on closing off any chance for Hamilton to pounce after Norris had made contact with the Mercedes and lost two places. While Hamilton initially seemed unaffected by the collision, Norris had to limp back to pit lane for a front wing change putting him at the back of the order behind Leclerc, his race already wrecked beyond recovery.
Aston Martin's Lance Stroll was now able to pass Hamilton for third, suggesting that the Mercedes might have sustained more damage than originally suspected, and Esteban Ocon had moved up fifth ahead of Alonso. Russell had picked up five places and was up to seventh ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou Guanyu, but he had done so by taking to the escape road at the start to avoid other cars and was duly placed under investigation by the stewards for gaining an advantage by leaving the track. It seemed a slam dunk penalty, but in the meantime he enjoyed a spirited back-and-forth with Alonso over sixth. Then came good news for Mercedes with word that the stewards had decided to take no further action on the first lap incident after all. Russell was good to keep going.
Starting on the mediums, Perez hadn't made up any ground at the start but was now making progress as he passed Hulkenberg for ninth place. Yuki Tsunoda and Oscar Piastri also passed the Haas in quick succession leaving Hulkenberg in 12th ahead of team mate Kevin Magnussen. Meanwhile at the front Verstappen was easing away from the rest of the field. Eight laps into the 66-lap race he was setting yet another fastest lap as he pulled over four seconds clear of Sainz, with Hamilton now back up to third after passing Stroll into turn 1.
Zhou opted to pit on lap 10 for a new set of hard tyres, with Hulkenberg and Magnussen (both on mediums), Tsunoda, Nyck de Vries, and Valtteri Bottas (all straight onto the hard compound) having already made their first stops. This had helped Leclerc who had started from pit lane on hard tyres - meaning that he was yet to stop - and now up to 11th ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant.
Ocon was next in for service on lap 14 from sixth place to move to mediums, and then it was Stroll in next time by to avoid being undercut by the French driver. After that it was Sainz in, likewise moving to the mediums, but there was no sign of an early stop for Verstappen, and both Mercedes drivers were still feeling entirely happy on their starter set of softs: "Tyres are still really good mate!" crowed Hamilton over the team radio. Alonso was similarly content behind them in fourth, while by contrast Leclerc's first stint on the hards came to an early end on lap 17 for a change to softs.
Alonso finally yielded and came in on lap 20 leaving the top four - Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell and Perez - as the only drivers yet to pit. The question was whether anyone could make it on just one stop: Russell was already discussing doing exactly that with his race engineer. In the end, Hamilton held out until lap 25 before pitting for mediums, and then it was Russell in next time around and Verstappen stopping on lap 27 for hards coming back out still just ahead of his team mate who was the last to came in on lap 28.
Hamilton had come back out behind Sainz, but it only took him a couple of laps before he was able to pick off the Ferrari into turn 1 to wrest back second place. Russell had similarly come out behind Stroll and promptly dispatched the Aston to move back into fourth. Behind Stroll was Ocon followed by an impressive run from Tsunoda in seventh ahead of Alonso, Perez and Zhou leaving Piastri and Gasly out of the points. Also looking somewhat bereft was Leclerc in 13th, the Ferrari not looking any healthier today for all the team's overnight hard work.
With ominous clouds building around the circuit, Russell suggested that there was rain at turn 5 - but was told by his deadpan race engineer that it was "just you" and that it might be a build up of sweat and condensation inside the helmet, an exchange bound to make the end-of-year highlights reel. For now though it was Verstappen cruising at the front with a 13s lead over Hamilton, leaving Sainz under extreme pressure from Russell who was now already 10s ahead of Stroll, Ocon and Perez as the race reached the halfway point.
Russell dived down the inside of Sainz on lap 35, earning a "solid work" commendation from his race engineer which wasn't enough for the driver: "Only solid?", he pouted, earning an upgrade to "it was pretty good" from the pit wall. Sainz had no comeback and was already turning his focus to staying ahead of Perez who had already picked off Ocon as Stroll dived into pit lane for his second and final stop and a new set of hard tyres dropping him to P13. Then it was Ocon in again, followed by Zhou causing the slot machine ripple effect to seize control of the timing screens once again.
There were more pit stops for Piastri and Gasly, who had been enjoying himself with a lot of midfield passes but not enough to make up for his pre-race grid penalties and losing multiple positions on the first lap. Sainz was in on lap 42, curiously opting for hard tyres which didn't seen the right call to allow him to stay ahead of Perez. Meanwhile Leclerc was also going through pit lane, also for hards, also a curious choice especially as race leader Verstappen was reporting that he was less than happy with his current run on the compound. He had also received two warnings from race control for exceeding track limits.
Undeterred by all this, Alonso pitted on lap 46 and likewise went for a set of hards; but it was a different call for Russell who was in the next time by for a final set of softs. He still ahead of Sainz but was now a long way behind Perez who was on an ageing set of the hard compound. Would the Red Bull stop again? Stroll was back up to sixth followed by Ocon and Alonso who had made quick work on passing Tsunoda and Zhou, leaving Gasly, Piastri and Leclerc out of the points with time running out.
Hamilton and Perez did both decide to pit on lap 51, and it worked out perfectly for Mercedes with Hamilton rejoining in second and Russell achieving the undercut on Perez who also hadn't managed to come out ahead of Sainz. Stroll was still in sixth but now it was Alonso in seventh after a thrilling do-or-die pass on his former team mate Ocon that brought huge cheers from the grandstands - and a Paddington Bear hard stare from the race stewards, who eventually decided that actually there was nothing to investigate after all.
Perez quickly picked off Sainz and was now eight seconds behind and closing fast on Russell in the battle for the last podium position. Meanwhile Verstappen took the opportunity of holding a sizeable lead to pit again and offload that disliked set of hards for a much friendlier final set of softs to see out the remaining 14 laps. While we watched Perez inch closer to Russell, the real action on track was a thrilling pitched battle between Ocon, Tsunoda and Zhou over eighth.
Verstappen had now received a third and final warning for exceeding track limits leaving him at risk of a penalty. The Red Bull pit wall pleaded with their man not to take any risks - and so he promptly punched in the fastest lap of the race, just to show what he thought of that. Hamilton meanwhile had settled for second, and Russell had done enough to come home in third with Perez running out of time to catch him and present a challenge. They were followed across the line by Stroll, Alonso and Ocon, but Tsunoda had been handed a five second penalty for forcing Zhou off track in their battle and dropped out of the top ten, promoting the Chinese driver into ninth with Gasly just holding off Leclerc for the final point in tenth.
Tsunoda dropped to 12th after his penalty was applied leaving him in front of Piastri and de Vries, with Hulkenberg in 15th having suffered multiple rear jack issues during his pit stops. With no retirements, the final places went to Alex Albon, Lando Norris, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant.
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