2024 F1 Round 10, Spanish GP: Verstappen Fights Back for Seventh Win of Season, Norris Second and Hamilton Third as Ferrari Drivers Clash and Alpine Scores with Both Cars

The 2024 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, Round 10 of the season, concluded after 66 laps at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the evening of 23 June, Beijing time. Starting second, Max Verstappen took the chequered flag in 1 hour 28 minutes 20.227 seconds for his seventh win of the season and the 61st Grand Prix victory of his career. Pole-sitter Lando Norris finished second, 2.219 seconds behind, and set the fastest lap. Lewis Hamilton was third.

The balance of the race shifted on the opening lap. Norris was squeezed at Turn 1 and dropped from pole to third, while George Russell seized the lead. Russell remained ahead only until lap 3, when Verstappen used DRS to pass him around the outside at Turn 1. Verstappen then took control of the fight for victory, leaving the pole-sitter to rue a missed opportunity.

Norris refused to give up. Like Charles Leclerc, he varied his strategy by extending the opening stint, and moved into second after a thrilling battle with Russell on lap 35. The Briton continued to close the gap to Verstappen, but ran out of laps and finished 2.2 seconds adrift. He voiced his frustration over the radio afterwards: “We should have won today. My start was terrible. The car was great, everyone did a great job, but we should have got more.” Hamilton, meanwhile, switched to soft tyres with 22 laps remaining for a late charge, passing Carlos Sainz and Russell to secure the final podium place.

Ferrari endured a bitter weekend at Sainz’s home round. Leclerc finished fifth and Sainz sixth, respectively 22.709 and 31.028 seconds behind the winner, exposing the team’s lack of pace against Red Bull, McLaren and even Mercedes. The Ferrari drivers made contact as Sainz passed Leclerc on lap 5, and their disagreement became public after the race. Leclerc criticised his team-mate for disregarding team instructions, trying to “put on a show” in front of his home crowd and jeopardising both cars’ races. Sainz responded that Leclerc “complains too much”.

In the midfield, Pierre Gasly finished ninth and Esteban Ocon tenth, giving Alpine a second successive double points finish and underlining its improving form. Nico Hülkenberg had appeared to have a chance of scoring, but a five-second penalty for exceeding the pit-lane speed limit by 0.1 km/h left him 11th, seven seconds behind Ocon. His team-mate Kevin Magnussen also received a five-second penalty for a jump start and finished 17th.

RB arrived with a major upgrade but left without points: Daniel Ricciardo finished 15th and Yuki Tsunoda 19th. Tsunoda gained two places at the start but had lost them again by lap 7, struggling throughout with severe understeer in high-speed corners. Along with Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez, he was one of only three drivers to make three pit stops, and also received a five-second penalty for pit-lane speeding. Fernando Alonso was only 12th at his home race and team-mate Lance Stroll 14th, leaving Aston Martin empty-handed too. Zhou Guanyu finished 13th. Alexander Albon started from the pit lane after a power-unit change breached parc fermé rules and finished 18th, while Logan Sargeant was the only driver to finish two laps down, in last place.

Verstappen further strengthened his lead in the championship, while Norris kept up the pursuit with second place and the fastest lap. Next week, the season moves to the Red Bull Ring for Round 11, the Austrian Grand Prix.