Aha, Giles Richards’ report is with us. That means we’re done here, so thanks all for your company and do join us next week in Austria. Peace out.
Horner tells Sky that Verstappen drove a brilliant race but the team got the strategy right and the first lap, then the pass of Russell during lap two, made the difference. “He executed the perfect race.”
“He’s so decisive,” Horner continues. "If he’s there he’s going to go for it, he explains. “and the other drivers know that”.
Even at the end, they always felt there was only one corner around which Norris was quicker, so they were always confident they had enough in hand to hang on. Since Miami, he thinks Norris has been the leading challenger and though the races have been closer, Red Bull keep winning.
They’ve got tremendous strength in depth on the team, he continues, and they looked fourth-fastest in qualifying, but the engineering team did a great job turning thing around and it’s the fine details making the difference.
Also going on:
Verstappen celebrates, Norris’ disappointment palpable. He’ll come again, though, and will hope he’s over a hump now, able to compete against the best as a driver with a car that won’t let him down.
Driver standings
Verstappen 219
Norris 150
Leclerc 148
Sainz Jr 116
Pérez 111
Piastri 87
Russell 81
Hamilton 70
The result but showing gaps between finishers.
CLASSIFICATION 📋
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 23, 2024
Here's the result from a thrilling afternoon in the Spanish sunshine 🌞🇪🇸#F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/3iOA4dEYUR
The top three ascentd the podium and the Netherlands anthem plays, yet again. Verstappen is so good at doing the necessery.
Result
Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Lando Norris ( McLaren)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
George Russell (Mercedes)
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari)
Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
Nico Hülkenberg (Haas
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber)
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber)
Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
Alex Albon (Williams)
Yuki Tsunoda (Rb)
Logan Sargeant (Williams)
Hamilton says like Lando, he made a bad start and lost ground to the Ferraris, but he doesn’t think he could’ve done any better in terms of placing – just that he could’ve got closer to the cars in front with a good jump. He thinks he and Sinz bumped wheels, but that it was fair, he left space, and there was a piece of paper between them.
Norris, asked if this feels like a race he could’ve won, corrects to “should’ve”. Lots of positives, just one negative, he surmises, praising the car, and doesn’t think he did everything terrible losing his lead, congratulating his mate Verstappen and looking forward to the next race. Austria and Silverstone are two of his favourite tracks and they’re coming next, so he’s not despondent.
Verstappen says what made the race was the beginning. He was able to eke out a lead then drive defensively – he had to because McLaren were very quick today. At the first corner he had to go off the track and do some rally driving, but once he hit the front he could look after his tyres better, and agrees his early pass of Russell set up the race. Tyres get hot on this circuit with all the turns, but he got it done.
Verstappen charges into the arms of his team. He’s enjoying the win, one for which he had to work and didn’t just come about because he was driving the fastest car by far.
Lewis Hamilton is happy and so are his team. “A great surprise to come here and get these points, he tells them. “We’re making improvements, keep pushing, we’re nearly there.”
“A brillianrtly executed race,” Horner tells Verstappen; Norris will be vexed he couldn’t make the most of his pole position, telling his team the car “deserved better”.
Max Verstappen wins the Spanish Grand Prix for the third year in a row! Lando Norris is second, Lewis Hmailton third!
Lap 66/66 Verstappen leads by 2.504s, but the difference between the teams isn’t as chasmic as once, and this might be a portent for what’s to come later in the season and also next. For now, though, Red Bull and the three-time defending champ are still out in front, the hard work here done at the first corner.
Updated
Lap 65/66 Norris is doing his best, but he’s not quite close enough, I don’t think.
Lap 64/66 The gap is dropping fast – Verstappen leads Norris by 3.004s having had chunks eaten out of him on every sector of the last lap. Maybe this isn’t quite did; can Norris get close enough for a last-lap DRS attack?
Lap 63/66 In comms, they’re hopeful of a better battle between Verstappen and Norris at the Silverstone a fortnight from now. The gap for now is down to 3.740s, but no sense it’ll get shorter enough between now and the chequered flag.
Lap 62/66 Leclerc should, though, have DRS on Russell, so expect him to attack on the final lap. Hamilton looks sorted for third.
Lap 61/66 Verstappen leads by 4.418s, and I think we can stop pretending to ourselves we’re on the cusp of a decisive dog-fight.
Updated
Lap 60/66 Last term, every car finished the race and that looks likely here too. Lovely stuff.
Verstappen
Norris
Hamilton
Russell
Leclerc
Sainz
Piastri
Gasly
Perez
Ocon
Hulkenberg
Alonso
Zhou
Stroll
Bottas
Ricciardo
Magnussen
Albon
Tsunoda
Sargeant
Lap 59/66 Nozza sets a fastest lap and the lead is down to 4.739s. “Doesn’t watching Verstappen make us wonder about certain successful people somehow making their own luck?” wonders David Howarth.
Absolutely. Every time Verstappen has been asked a question today, he’s responded.
Lap 58/66 It’s amazing, really, how circumstances have conspired to stick Verstappen at the front. no one expected Russell to come through from P4 and lead through the first corner, but you sense Norris really needed to stay in front and use the open road to build a lead if he was to win here.
Lap 57/66 Norris is running out road here. As I type, the lead dips under five seconds, but Verstappen still leads and looks like he’s going to win.
Updated
Lap 56/66 Norris gains half a second but Verstappen responds, pushing; the lead is 5.161s.
Lap 55/66 Hamilton increaeses his lead over Russell; if his car doesn’t let him down, he’s going to make that podium. It must sting though, seeing that as a triumph when you’ve won seven driver championships.
Lap 54/66 In comms, they think Norris is pushing for a lap then saving his tyres for a lap. Verstappen leads by 5.5s.
Lap 53/66 Norris continues closing the gap. We might just get ourselves a finish here!
Lap 52/66 Hamilton hasn’t podiummed in 12 races – Mexico last term was the last time – and he easily takes out Russell to settle in third.
Lap 51/66 Hamilton is now within a second of Russell as they battle for a podium; Norris sets another fastest lap as Verstappen’s lead dips below six seconds.
Lap 50/66 Norris closes the gap on Verstappen to 6.881s and which of these cars is now the quicker? There’s not loads in it, but there is a good chance Norris can make a contest out of this.
Lap 49/66 Russell might be told to step aside for Hamilton, within a second behind him, on the basis that it’s going to get passed at some point so both should preserve their tyres. For now, though, he’s just about defending.
Lap 48/66 Veratappen now leads, Norris stays ahead of Russell, and this race will be decided by the battle at the front. Does Norris’ McLaren have the pace to close the gap?
Lap 47/66 Norris leads Leclerc by 12.83s, but he comes in at the end of this lap and the challenge will be to get him out ahead of Hamilton and Russell.
Lap 46/66 there we go! Russell bousts by Piastri to make fourth and Hamilton sces past Sainz.
Norris
Leclerc
Verstappen
Russell
Piastri
Hamilton
Sainz
Lap 45/66 Verastappen comes in and goes on to softs, so Norris has until he does to try and build a lead. He is flying! Hamilton, meanwhile, attacks Sainz, but can’t get by at turn nine; the pass seems inevitable, but.
Lap 44/66 It’s nuts, isn’t it, the way everything just seems to work out for Verstappen; Hamilton comes in and goes on to used softs, sitting seventh behind Sainz.
Lap 43/66 Russell, sixth, sets a fastest lap, and will move through the field as others pit. He’s a strong chance of a podium here, but Hamilton will be thinking the same.
Lap 42/66 Verstappen’s lead is down to 5.638s, but news from behind is that hards aren’t working all that well.
Lap 41/66 It’s pretty cloudy overhead now, but the expectation is for there to be no rain. Blind Melon will be happy.
Lap 40/66 Verstappen’s lead is now 7.083s, and I wonder if he’ll want to pit for the second time before Norris does, so he can spend as long as possible at the front, with clear road ahead of him.
Lap 39/66 Russell, now sixth, sets a fastest lap, and he’ll move up the field as the cars in front pit.
Lap 38/66 Norris eats into Verstappen’s lead, now down to a piddling 7.821s. The champ will want a solid stop when he comes in, because this race isn’t over yet.
Lap 37/66 Russell comes in to change his mediums to hards and emerges from the pits into seventh spot.
Lap 36/66 Verstappen won’t mind all that action behind him – he now leads by 8.809s.
Lap 35/66 Norris attacks Russell and goes by but through turn four, Russell, fighting hard, seizes second place back, only for Norris to go again at five and this time, he gets away! What a tussle that was, but now Russell is under threat from Hamilton behind him!
Updated
Lap 34/66 The temperature has dropped by a couple of degrees, while Verastppen’s lead has increased by a couple of seconds. He leads Russell by 8.272s.
Verstappen
Russell
Norris
Hamilton
Sainz
Leclerc
Piastri
Gasly
Ocon
Hulkenberg
Zhou
Stroll
Perez
Alonso
Ricciardo
Albon
Bottas
Srageant
Tsunoda
Magnussen
Lap 33/66 In comms, they note that the chief beneficiary of the first round of stops is Verstappen. While so doing, they manage to refrain from laughing.
Lap 32/66 Hamilton wants a hack at Russell but Norris is behind him and this time, he doesn’t bother defending, knowing that the fresher tyres have too much pop for him. I’m certain Russell will soon have to give way too, but Verstappen is way off in the distance.
Lap 31/66 Norris gets close enough so Hamilton hugs the inside preventing the overtake and the gap is just 0.508 now. It’ll happen, but it might take another lap or two.
Lap 30/66 Hamilton is coming back a little, and in comms they wonder if he and Russell might work together to hold Norris off. For now, that’s not happening, and the McLaren is closing on them.
Lap 29/66 Max Verstappen is good at driving.
Lap 28/66 Verstappen leads by 6.5s or so, and though Norris is lapping faster than him, he’s got a fair old way to make up. In between them, Russell has pulled away from Hamilton a little – the old master almost had DRS,b ut now the gap is 1.518s.
Lap 28/66 The gap from Verstappen, leading, to Norris, in fourth, is roughly 9.4s. It feels like the winner here can only be one of these two.
Lap 27/66 Norris, 0.293s behind Sainz, has a go at him but can’t get by; however, with the straight to comer, you fancy he’ll find a way, and shobuff that’s exactly what he does.
Lap 26/66 Sainz is annoyed as he thinks Hamilton didn’t get him enough space to drive in the process of overtaking; he thinks there should be a penalty, but the officials do not.
Verstappen
Russell
Hamilton
Sainz
Norris
Gasly
Leclerc
Lap 25/66 In comes Leclerc, so every driver has now pitted and Max Verstappen leads. Of course he does.
Lap 24/66 In comes Norris, the stop’s a goodun, and he comes out behind Sainz in sixth. So we’ve a new leader: Sharl Leclerc, the only man yet to have pitted. When he goes in, Veratappen will have a decent lead.
Lap 23/66 Verstappen is only lapping 6/10 of a second faster than Norris, so this couid be a proper contest (or not). Further back, Alonso passes Magnussen to make the lofty heights of 15th.
Lap 22/66 Piastri comes in as Norris builds his lead to 5.433s and Verstappen looks to close on Leclerc, the gap between them 2.2s or so.
Lap 21/66 In comms they wonder if Nozza night follow a one-stop strategy and go on to hards when he comes in; the verdict is unlikely. Verstappen is moving, by the way, easing past Piastri to take third. He’s about 14s off the lead.
Lap 20/66 Hamilton sets a fastest lap as Norris builds his lead, now 4.869s. At some point he’ll pit, but might he be bale to extend his lead sufficiently to retain some of it?
Lap 19/66 Sainz forces Hamilton on to the verge as he takes the inside line, but Hamilton hangs in there to go past! The faster car could not be denied!
Norris
Leclerc
Piastri
Verstappen
Russell
Hamilton
Sainz
Lap 18/66 Hamilton attacks Sainz – he seems to have the greater pace – but can’t get by, for now. Meanwhile, Verstappen is in and out in very little time, emerging in P4, Norris now wa leader.
Lap 17/66 Hamilton pits so Piastri is now fourth – he’ll take that – while Stroll comes out in fifth and the aforementioned Merc comes out behind the Aston Martin.
Lap 16/66 Russell comes in, so a chance for Norris to close the gap on Verstappen; Sainz comes in too and his stop is three seconds faster, so they come out duelling. Sainz can’t get quite close enough to try and overtake.
Lap 15/66 Gasly pits, Ocon too; both on to the mediums, but the former’s stop is botched meaning he comes out in 13th. Magnussen, meanwhile is handed a five-second penalty for an infraction I missed.
Lap 14/66 Verstappen expected a tough race; so far, that’s not his experience of it. He’s in a league of his own currently.
Lap 13/66 Veratappen’s lead is now over three seconds, while Russell is still roundabout a second in front of Norris.
Updated
Lap 12/66 Verstappen continues building his lead.
Lap 11/66 Russell is, though, dropping further away from Verstappen, which is allowing the champ top get away – there are cars behind who might make a better job of pursuing him, and the Ferraris are closing on Hamilton in fourth, but for now at least, now one can get at the leader.
Lap 10/66 Verstappen continues building his lead, now 2.3367s, while Norris isn’t really closing on Russell in second; the gap is 0.839s, though that’s small enough for a smart strategy to make the difference.
Lap 9/66 Norris has been told Plan B plus 10, apparently, so won’t change tyres for a while.
Verstappen
Russell
Norris
Hamilton
Sainz
Leclerc
Gasly
Piastri
Ocon
Hulkenberg
Perez
Stroll
Bottas
Alonso
Magnussen
Zhou
Tsunoda
Ricciardo
Albon
Sargeant
Lap 8/66 Verstappen now leads by 2.086s, and looks good. I’m not sure how anyone can possibly catch him, however clever his pursuers are with their stop-strategy.
Lap 7/66 Further back in the field, Alonso is dropping – he’s 14th – having started 10th – which suggests a mechanical issue.
Lap 6/66 Looking again at Verstappen going by Russell, I’m not sure there was much in the way of defence that could’ve been done: a better driver and a faster car, with DRS, was just too much. The champ builds his lead, now close to 1.5s.
Lap 5/66 Verstappen sets a fastest lap while Nozza closes on Russell – he seems to have the faster car, and I’d expect him to soon forge in front.
Lap 4/66 I fear we may have seen this race before. Who on earth has the pace to get at Verstappen here? I fear that may be a rhetorical question.
Updated
Lap 3/66 Ahahahaha! You’ve got to laugh! Russell offers Verstappen the outside and, with DRS, he takes it, the champ now in front, quickly out of DRS threat with a lead of 1.017s, and Norris now almost two seconds behind the young Brit in third. Good luck everyone else.
Lap 2/66 What a start for Russell! He looked confident when we saw him a few minutes ago, and his lead is 0.667s.
Russell
Verstappen
Norris
Hamilton
Leclerc
Sainz
Gasly
Piastri
Ocon
Hulkenberg
Lap 1/66 Norris gets away in front of Verstappen, trying to squeeze him onto the grass, but in the process of so doing he opens space for Russell who, on the clean side of the track skirts around the outside, enjoying the racing line, and takes the lead!
Updated
We’re good to go!
Verstappen, meanwhile, is apparently on a used set of tyres, and in comms they reckon he might go soft, medium, soft.
The formation lap is under way!
Our drivers are in their cars, tyres heating nicely; “the best car wins in Spain, most of the time,” says Simon Brotherton, noting that everyone bar Alex Albon, who starts from the it lane, is on softs.
Barcelona, then. Of course any city with a beach and reliable heat is high level, but of those that do, this isn’t one of my favourites. Town needs some work.
Earlier, we could hear a version of Sade’s classic, Smooth Operator. I’m not sure it was this one, but we do the best we can with the materials we have.
You always want to start first, says Verstappen, but it’s a long way to turn one and such a long race in general that its outcome won’t be decided at the first corner.
George Russell won’t reveal Mercedes team tactics, while Christian Horner thinks all the cars look pretty close and that anything can happen. The closer competition is pushing everybody and it’s all about attention to detail, but Verstappen is pushing hard.
This version, though, despite a nice string quartet, doesn’t quite hammer the chorus in the way I’d like.
Sainz tells Sky he’s going for a podium, umbrella protecting him from the sun. We’re almost ready for Marcha Real –one of four, Bosnia and Herzegovina, San Marino and Kosovo the others, with no lyrics. It is, though, a lovely tune.
Gerard Piqué, meanwhile, wearing beige with beige including a knitted affair on top, doesn’t know who’s going to win. More news as I get it; sadly we’ve no snap at which to chortle.
Updated
Flavio Briatore, wearing natty specs and now working for Alpine, is in a good mood. He’s going to do “everything necessary to make the team competitive”, but asked to specify, he asks in return to be given a chance to work it out.
Also going on…
It’s absolutely kicking in the grandstand, a raft of orange-clad spectators bouncing about. Atmosphere is building…
Nothing to do with F1 but everything to do with everything. My eyeballs are sweating hard; check it out.
A very emotional Player of the Match, Brodie Croft, summed up the game and the emotions of an incredible evening at Headingley.#ONEROBBURROW #SkySportsRL pic.twitter.com/ggUi59rE7T
— Sky Sports Rugby League (@SkySportsRL) June 21, 2024
We’ve had four different drivers in pole the last four races, which perhaps tells us that Red Bull and Verstappen are coming back towards the pack. It’ll still take something staggering to stop them recording a fourth title in a row, but this season is already more fun than last for that reason.
Driver standings
Verstappen 194
Leclerc 138
Norris 131
Sainz Jr 108
Pérez 107
Piastri 81
Russell 69
Hamilton 55
The wind is picking up, apparently. That’ll make the start even more important than usual, and if Norris can get out of the first corner in front, he’ll fancy himself to hang on.
The grid
Lando Norris ( McLaren)
Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
George Russell (Mercedes)
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari)
Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber)
Nico Hülkenberg (Haas)
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber)
Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
Alex Albon (Williams)
Logan Sargeant (Williams)
Preamble
Afternoon all and welcome to the Spanish Grand Prix – 2024!
And what a race this promises to be! Lando Norris will start in pole position for just the second time in his career, the manner of it – a near-perfect final lap he described as “beautiful” pipping Max Verstappen who will be alongside him on the front row.
Of course, there’s a big difference between besting the defending three-time over one circuit and doing likewise over 66, but it’s a start, and though the sense remains that Verstappen will again lift the title at the season’s end, this is more intrigue than we’ve had in a while and who knows, perhaps it’s the start of something.
Because Norris – who began the day evacuating McLaren’s motorhome, shoeless, following a fire – really believes he can do something, not just today but in the future. For now, though, he’ll settle for a race win – but will know the hard work is only just beginning.
Lights out: 3pm local, 2pm BST
Updated
