Verstappen and Norris battle to the finish in telling Spanish Grand Prix

Max Verstappen has won the Spanish Grand Prix. At the same track where he won his first race back in 2016, the Dutchman now established himself once again as the title favorite for this year. But the victory did not come easy. Not in the slightest.

Verstappen started the race in second, alongside his favorite rival Lando Norris. Both got off to a good start and seemed to leave everyone behind for a scrappy battle between them. That was until the first corner, when George Russell suddenly materialized out of nowhere and overtook both of them in one go. In his wake, Verstappen overtook Norris and began his assault on Russell. The fight lasted only one lap, as Russell’s attempt at defending in the next lap only resulted in Verstappen passing the Mercedes driver and starting to build his lead.

What followed next was a battle of wits, a refined tactical matching of skills, a game of intelligent strategy to put your own driver ahead.

Obviously, Ferrari lost that battle. Whatever they tried to achieve, didn’t work. Leclerc even cried out into his comms “Why are we on plan A?!?!”, which resulted in a completely unsatisfying answer from his engineer. Ferrari wasn’t much of a factor in the race after that.

Russell's incredible overtake in the opening lap, promoting him from fourth to first.

To be a little fair to Ferrari: none of the tactics really seemed to work. Russell, Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, they all tried different things and yet the running order stayed roughly the same. That was especially annoying for Norris, who on paper had a chance at victory. Instead, he constantly had to fight his way through the rest of the top 5. The worst of it came from Russell, who managed to hold Norris back for enough laps to make the gap between him and Verstappen insurmountable. 

That didn’t mean Norris didn’t try though, and in the final moments he managed to bring the gap back down from 11 seconds to just 2. But it wasn’t enough. Verstappen crossed the line with a big orange spot right in his rear mirrors. Hamilton overtook his own teammate late in the race to earn his first podium of the season. And despite a strong challenge from Leclerc in the end, the Ferrari’s couldn’t muster any better than fifth and sixth.

Spain showed us what things are really like

Earlier this week, I said that the Spanish Grand Prix would be a good indicator of what the true balance of power in F1 is right now. So, what is it?

Well, it looks like the pace of the Mercedes is genuine and they are now a real contender at the top. McLaren has properly established themselves as a contender for the win. Ferrari has dropped back a little bit and is now more in the mix with Mercedes and maybe McLaren than Red Bull. And Red Bull itself is back to being the top pick for the win.

Well, that last bit isn’t entirely true. Verstappen is the favorite for the win again. Because his team mate Sergio Perez is definitely not in the mix. The Mexican started from P11 and never really left that part of the timing sheet. He ultimately finished in 8th after a late overtake on Pierre Gasly (what an accomplishment…). Because of that lackluster performance, Red Bull “only” came away with 29 points, compared to 27 for Mercedes and 25 for McLaren. It’s still enough to stay ahead of the competition of course, but that is not exactly a comfortable margin. If that form continues, it might very well come back to bite Red Bull in the ass over the course of the season.

The race might have been won by Verstappen, but it once again didn’t come easy. The two second gap between him and Norris by the end can almost completely be explained by Norris being stuck behind Russell for a few laps. Verstappen’s seven wins this season will probably be enough to carry him to the title again this year. But for all intents and purposes, we really do seem to have a title fight on our hands this year.