2023 Spanish Grand Prix Recap

Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton +24.090
George Russell +32.389
Sergio Perez +35.812
Carlos Sainz +45.698
Lance Stroll +63.320
Fernando Alonso +64.127
Esteban Ocon +69.242
Zhou Guanyu +71.878
Pierre Gasly +73.530
Charles Leclerc +74.419
Yuki Tsunoda +75.416
Oscar Piastri +1 Lap
Nyck De Vries +1 Lap
Nico Hulkenberg +1 Lap
Alex Albon +1 Lap
Lando Norris +1 Lap
Kevin Magnussen +1 Lap
Valtteri Bottas +1 Lap
Logan Sargeant +1 Lap

It’s been a little while since our last recap. After the Miami Grand Prix we had a week off and then the Italian Grand Prix in Imola was cancelled due to heavy flooding in the area and I was out of town last weekend during the Monaco Grand Prix. The Monaco Grand Prix by the way was won by Max Verstappen and featured Fernando Alonso on the podium in 2nd place and Esteban Ocon rounding out the podium in 3rd place. So moving on to this weekend where F1 visited Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Qualifying was quite interesting in Spain as the track had seen some rain leading up to Q1 and while the rain had stopped, the track was still damp and drying out so the lap times continued to get faster by the minute. The first twist of qualifying was Q1 in which Charles Leclerc shockingly failed to get out of. And there wasn’t a wreck or anything, Leclerc just complained of having no grip and just couldn’t put down a good time. After Leclerc’s exit in Q1 it was followed by George Russell and Sergio Perez failing to get out of Q2. While both Perez and Russell had slight incidents in Q2, they both still put down lap times that were just not good enough to get into the top 10, but again the damp track played a big role in this. Then to finish out Q3 it was Max Verstappen putting in a lap that nobody was within half a second of touching, followed by Carlos Sainz in 2nd and a surprising Lando Norris in 3rd.

Starting the race and going into turn 1 was about the extent of Max Verstappen being challenged in today’s race. Verstappen did start the race on medium tires while the rest of the field except his teammate started on soft tires. This gave Carlos Sainz a little bit of a chance to steal the led going into the first turn but Verstappen was able to close the door and check out on the field. Verstappen lead all 66 laps of the race and also turned in the fastest lap of the race for his 5th race win of the season. Verstappen outclassed the field this weekend as he was fastest in P1, P2, P3, qualifying, won the race and had the fastest lap in the race.

The charge down to Turn 1 😮

Watch all the key action from the Spanish Grand Prix 🇪🇸#SpanishGP #F1
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 4, 2023

Elsewhere in the race there was quite a bit of action. Lando Norris who started the race in 3rd made contact with Lewis Hamilton in the first turn and damaged his front wing. Norris had to immediately pit and spent the rest of the race at the rear of the field. It was a disaster of a race for Norris and the McLaren team. Both Mercedes cars passed multiple drivers and got up to 2nd and 3rd to round out the podium places behind Verstappen. It was the first race outside of Monaco for the Mercedes team and the upgrades they brought last week and they have to be very satisfied. While they are still off the pace of the Red Bulls, Mercedes look like they are going to be a force in the fight for second place.

Lando Norris’s dreams of a top three finish were over after two corners 😫#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Mrn9AbYOag
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 4, 2023

3 Start Drivers of the Day

3rd Star - Lewis Hamilton

After Q1 and Q2 yesterday I thought for sure that Hamilton would qualify 2nd and start the race on the front row with Verstappen. But Hamilton put down a pretty average lap and qualified 5th. After a penalty dropped Gasly to 10th, Hamilton started the race in 4th place. Hamilton got around Lando Norris going into the first turn and after about 15 laps he had reeled in Carlos Sainz and forced him to pit. Sainz would never get back in front of Hamilton. Overall a solid race from Hamilton to go from 4th to 2nd and pick up his second 2nd place finish and second podium of the season.

2nd Star - Max Verstappen

Verstappen very easily could’ve been driver of the day. Yes he has the fastest car but dominating every session of the weekend is quite the feat. And we’ve seen over and over again, other drivers put in the fastest cars on the grid and fail to produce. Just see Charles Leclerc and the Ferrari team in the first half of the 2022 season. Fastest car or not, F1 can be a tough sport mentally and Verstappen is one of the few with a killer instinct.

1st Star - George Russell

And the driver of the day goes to George Russell. Russell has struggled in qualifying this year and I’m not really sure why. It seemed to be what he was strongest at last year and one of the main reasons he beat Lewis Hamilton last year in his first season with Mercedes. But multiple times this year we’ve seen Russell struggle in qualifying and put himself in a bad spot in the race. Spain was no different as George failed to get out of Q2 and started the race 12th. Russell had a fantastic start to the race immediately picking up multiple positions after turns 1 and 2. Russell continued to charge his way up the pack and by lap 10 had worked his way up to 5th. Russell then got by Lance Stroll through pit stops and made the pass around Carlos Sainz for 3rd on lap 35. Russell was never able to close in on Hamilton beyond about 5-6 seconds but I honestly believe his race pace was slightly faster than Hamilton’s and could’ve finished ahead of him if not for starting so far back. Either way, fantastic drive by Russell to go from 12th to 3rd and get his 1st podium of the year.

Other Notes:

This may be a hot take but are we sure Charles Leclerc is good? I guess a better way to rephrase this is are we sure Charles Leclerc is a championship caliber driver? I mean he has 19 career pole positions in qualifying and only has 5 career wins. Verstappen on the other hand has 40 career wins but only 24 pole positions. That’s a shockingly low conversion rate by Leclerc. We saw it over and over again in the first half of the 2022 season where Leclerc and Ferrari dominated qualifying and looked to have the faster car than Red Bull only for them to mess it up and throw it away. Ferrari’s team principal Mattia Binotto took the blame and got fired as a result, but things have only gotten worse for Ferrari this season. Through 7 races Leclerc’ finishes are DNF, 7th, DNF, 3rd, 7th, 6th and 11th. He’s only finished better than his teammate Carlos Sainz twice so far. At what point do we start looking at Leclerc and placing some of the blame on him? Maybe this is why Ferrari are rumored to be throwing a huge contract offer at Lewis Hamilton.
Which takes us to the next point and that is Lewis Hamilton and his future. There’s been a lot of rumors in recent weeks about his future with Mercedes since his contract with them comes to an end at the end of this season. There’s been rumors of a huge offer from Ferrari but of course Hamilton continues to say he is working with Mercedes to determine his future. I’m going to go ahead and say there is no chance Hamilton leaves Mercedes. While I’d love for him to leave Mercedes and try something different, it just won’t happen and we aren’t that lucky. I mean think of the excitement that would bring to the sport and the shakeup to the grid if Hamilton went to a team like Ferrari or even another team to try and turn them into a winner? It would be fantastic for the sport but again, unfortunately it won’t happen. Look for Hamilton to sign a 2 yr extension with Mercedes in the coming weeks.