Max Verstappen celebrated his seventh victory of the 2024 Formula 1 season in Barcelona on Sunday. The world champion took command in the first stint and, after a race dominated by tire performance, beat Lando Norris in the closing stages. With the 61st triumph of his career, the Red Bull driver further extended his lead in the world championship. Behind Norris, Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes completed the podium.
Max Verstappen laid the foundation for his success at the start. Although George Russell initially took the lead, his position gain against Lando Norris paved the way for the defending champion to take second place. On lap three, he took first place from Russell and built up a comfortable lead of almost five seconds by the first pit stop. He also managed the gap confidently in the two stints that followed.
In the final phase, Norris reduced the gap from eight to two seconds, but Verstappen maintained his lead until the chequered flag. Norris not only took second place but also a bonus point for the fastest lap. Hamilton crossed the finish line in third place, taking his first podium of the season. George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri, Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon completed the points positions. Nico Hülkenberg, who came in eleventh, just missed out on a scoreable result.
The highlights of the Formula 1 race in Barcelona
- Seventh win of the season for Max Verstappen
- First podium for Lewis Hamilton since Mexico 2023
- George Russell’s rocket launch makes a preliminary decision
- All 20 drivers see the checkered flag
The weather: Contrary to the forecast, the conditions on race day were much better. After a light drizzle in the morning, it cleared up just in time for the start. The air temperature was 24 degrees Celsius, and the asphalt was much warmer than expected at 42 degrees Celsius. Dark clouds on the horizon with a 20 percent chance of rain had no effect on the Grand Prix. However, the wind was stronger than on Saturday, with speeds of up to 2.5 m/s.
Russell cheats Norris and Verstappen
The start phase: The entire field used the soft tyres for the first stint in order to use the traction advantage at the start. Only Albon started on medium tyres. The Williams driver started the race from the pit lane. Pole sitter Norris lost the lead when braking for turn 1, but not to Verstappen. While the McLaren driver defended himself against the world champion, Russell passed both of them on the outside and took first place. Behind them followed Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Gasly, Piastri, Ocon and Hülkenberg. The latter was the biggest winner of the opening lap, gaining three positions.
Verstappen takes command
The early course of the race: The Mercedes lead did not last long. On lap three, Verstappen used the DRS at the first opportunity and passed Russell on the outside during the run to turn 1. The Brit was then unable to stay in the DRS window and came under pressure from Norris, who was under pressure. In the battle for fifth place, the Ferrari drivers clashed when Sainz took the position with slight contact from Leclerc. The Spaniard left the track in turn one, but the stewards did not punish the scene.
The following laps were dominated by pace management. After ten laps, Russell had fallen to two and a half seconds behind Verstappen. Behind him, Norris continued to lurk in the DRS window, but was not within striking distance. Zhou and Tsunoda made their first pit stops at the same time and switched from soft to medium. In the midfield, only Magnussen and Bottas initially reacted.
Norris and Leclerc remain stubborn
The first pit stop phase: On lap 13, Hülkenberg, in eleventh place, was the first driver in the points’ range to stop. Ocon and Perez came in for service one lap later. The Mexican opted for a second stint on soft tires, as Bottas had done. With a pit stop time of 6.7 seconds, Gasly’s pit stop backfired. On lap 16, Russell and Sainz came in to change to medium tires. Verstappen’s lead at this point was four and a half seconds. A pit stop that was 5.3 seconds slow also set Russell back. Norris was eight tenths of a second faster than Verstappen on his first lap in free driving.
After his pit stop on lap 17, Hamilton returned to the track immediately behind Russell and Sainz. The record world champion took over the position from the Spaniard three laps later. Norris, meanwhile, rejected his team’s undercut suggestion on the radio, while Verstappen switched to medium tires on lap 18. The Red Bull driver resumed his race in fourth place behind Norris, Leclerc and Piastri. The Australian lost third place to Verstappen and then came in for a tire change. On lap 24, Norris also followed suit, rotating in sixth behind Sainz on fresh medium tires. Leclerc was the last driver to come in for service immediately afterwards.
Norris needs to gain positions on the track
The rest of the race:Adjusted for pit stops, Verstappen was five and a half seconds ahead of Russell on lap 26. Hamilton was one second behind, with Sainz following with a gap of another two seconds. The Ferrari driver was caught by Norris, who drove the fastest times in the field on fresh tires. On lap 27, the Brit passed his former teammate. Norris initially found it hard to get past Hamilton until he found a way past on lap 32. He and Russell had a spectacular duel for second place, which began with Turn 3 and went through four corners. When he took over the position, Verstappen was already nine seconds ahead.
Soft attack in the last stint
The second pit stop phase: On lap 37, Russell and Sainz once again opened the pit stop window for the top 10. Both switched to the hard tyre. During this phase, Norris was driving half a second per lap faster than Verstappen. During his second pit stop on lap 44, Hamilton opted for the soft tyre after Russell reported on the radio that the hard compound was not delivering the performance he had hoped for.
Verstappen came into the pits one lap later. Norris had reduced the gap to four seconds and the world champion also opted for soft tyres for the last stint. At the front, Norris immediately picked up the pace, but on new tyres Verstappen was a full second faster. On lap 48, the leader also came into the pits and switched to soft tyres. Leclerc opted for the soft tyres at the same time. Verstappen was then eight seconds ahead. Behind him were Norris, Russell, Hamilton, Sainz, Leclerc, Perez, Piastri, Gasly and Ocon.
Verstappen parries Norris offensive
The final phase: After several laps in the slipstream of his teammate, Hamilton passed Russell on the outside on lap 53 during a run into turn 1. Norris reduced the gap to Verstappen to five seconds, who was instructed by his engineer not to save the tires and to use maximum pace. The lap times of the leading duo remained identical. Verstappen then managed the lead to the finish and won with a lead of just over two seconds.