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Autosport

Sport

2024 F1 Spanish GP results: Verstappen beats charging Norris

Lando Norris L Norris M Verstappen George Russell Oscar Piastri McLaren Mercedes C Sainz Ferrari Lewis Hamilton Carlos Sainz L Hamilton

Verstappen beat McLaren’s Lando Norris and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in the 66-lap race.

George Russell (Mercedes) led for a couple of laps at the start after a brave move around the outside of Verstappen and Norris, who ran wheel-to-wheel from the start on the long run to Turn 1.

But Verstappen passed Russell to take the lead as soon as DRS became available, as Norris opted to run long on the soft tyres that he started on, giving up his track position for a tyre delta advantage.

Norris had a great battle with Russell for second just after half distance and spent his final stint chasing Verstappen home.

2024 F1 Spanish Grand Prix results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	66	-			2	25		Red Bull	Red Bull
2	L. Norris McLaren	4	66	+2.219 2.219	2.219		2	19		McLaren	Mercedes
3	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	66	+17.790 17.790	15.571		2	15		Mercedes	Mercedes
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63	66	+22.320 22.320	4.530		2	12		Mercedes	Mercedes
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	66	+22.709 22.709	0.389		2	10		Ferrari	Ferrari
6	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	66	+31.028 31.028	8.319		2	8		Ferrari	Ferrari
7	O. Piastri McLaren	81	66	+33.760 33.760	2.732		2	6		McLaren	Mercedes
8	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	66	+59.524 59.524	25.764		3	4		Red Bull	Red Bull
9	P. Gasly Alpine	10	66	+1'02.025 1'02.025	2.501		2	2		Alpine	Renault
10	E. Ocon Alpine	31	66	+1'11.889 1'11.889	9.864		2	1		Alpine	Renault
11	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	66	+1'19.215 1'19.215	7.326		2			Haas	Ferrari
12	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	65	1 lap			2			Aston Martin	Mercedes
13	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	65	1 lap			2			Sauber	Ferrari
14	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	65	1 lap			2			Aston Martin	Mercedes
15	D. Ricciardo RB	3	65	1 lap			2			RB	Red Bull
16	V. Bottas Sauber	77	65	1 lap			2			Sauber	Ferrari
17	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	65	1 lap			2			Haas	Ferrari
18	A. Albon Williams	23	65	1 lap			2			Williams	Mercedes
19	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	65	1 lap			3			RB	Red Bull
20	L. Sargeant Williams	2	64	2 laps			2			Williams	Mercedes
View full results

2024 F1 Spanish Grand Prix report

Polesitter Norris led the charge to Turn 1 and although the faster-starting Verstappen had the inside line, after Norris squeezed him towards the grass away from the startline, a bold Russell swept around both to lead thanks to a powerful double slipstream from the cars in front.

Verstappen held second, with Norris falling from first to third. Hamilton ran fourth from the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who were followed by Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Oscar Piastri (McLaren).

Sainz passed Leclerc at Turn 1 for fifth after a brush of wheels that caused Sainz to use the run-off.

Verstappen used his DRS to get a great run on Russell at the start of lap three, and battled his way past around the outside of Turn 1 as Russell opted to go to the inside to defend.

Verstappen extended his lead to 4.5s over Russell ahead of the first round of pitstops, despite a moment at Turn 8 on lap 12.

Russell was the first of the top six to stop on lap 16, but suffered a slow right-rear change, and rejoined just ahead of Sainz. That released Norris to close slightly on Verstappen, whose response was to pit on lap 18, putting Norris back into the lead.

Hamilton passed Sainz for sixth with a tight move at Turn 1 on lap 19 and immediately set fastest lap. Verstappen lost time passing Piastri at Turn 7, who then pitted from fourth.

Norris ran even longer to lap 23, rejoining in sixth on fresh mediums. Leclerc led for a lap before making his first stop, which handed the lead back to Verstappen, who was 5s clear of Russell, Hamilton, Sainz and Norris.

Norris set fastest lap and passed Sainz for fourth on lap 27. Piastri, who was on a similar strategy, proved the McLaren could pass a Red Bull by DRS-ing past Sergio Perez for ninth.

Norris DRS-ed past Hamilton on lap 32, elevating him to third, while team-mate Piastri made similar progress and moved up to seventh by half distance.

Norris pulled a great move on Russell for second at Turn 3, but Russell regained his advantage around the outside of Turn 4, before Norris made the move stick at Turn 7. Russell pitted on lap 37 for hards.

Verstappen’s lead over Norris diminished from over 9s to 4.4s during this stint, as Hamilton was the next frontrunner to make his second and final stop, switching to softs.

Verstappen also opted for softs when he stopped on lap 45, putting Norris into the lead with 21 laps to go. Norris pitted for softs a couple of laps later, just rejoining ahead of Russell in second with an 8s gap to Verstappen.

Norris pushed hard from the start of his final stint, taking 2s out of him in three laps, forcing Verstappen to respond by raising his pace. The gap stabilised at 5s as the laps ticked down, and Norris was left to rue the track position he lost at the start after starting from pole.

Despite a final push by Norris, Verstappen won by 2.2s. Hamilton passed Russell for third on lap 52.

Leclerc (on softs) passed Sainz (on hards) for fifth with 11 laps remaining but Leclerc just fell short in his pursuit of Russell by 0.3s at the finish.

Piastri finished seventh ahead of a three-stopping Perez, who passed Gasly in the final stages, the latter doing well to recover from a slow first stop. Esteban Ocon’s Alpine rounded out the point scorers.

2024 F1 Spanish Grand Prix fastest laps

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Lap	Time	Interval	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	51	1'17.115		217.405
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	54	+0.661 1'17.776	0.661	215.557
3	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	51	+0.670 1'17.785	0.009	215.532
4	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	46	+0.694 1'17.809	0.024	215.466
5	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	56	+0.759 1'17.874	0.065	215.286
6	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	52	+0.782 1'17.897	0.023	215.222
7	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	50	+1.175 1'18.290	0.393	214.142
8	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	50	+1.219 1'18.334	0.044	214.022
9	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	39	+1.424 1'18.539	0.205	213.463
10	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	49	+1.494 1'18.609	0.070	213.273
11	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	50	+1.656 1'18.771	0.162	212.834
12	E. Ocon Alpine	31	Alpine	Renault	54	+1.867 1'18.982	0.211	212.266
13	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	51	+1.930 1'19.045	0.063	212.096
14	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	45	+2.017 1'19.132	0.087	211.863
15	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	50	+2.203 1'19.318	0.186	211.366
16	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	RB	Red Bull	56	+2.332 1'19.447	0.129	211.023
17	D. Ricciardo RB	3	RB	Red Bull	61	+2.335 1'19.450	0.003	211.015
18	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	13	+2.493 1'19.608	0.158	210.596
19	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	33	+2.690 1'19.805	0.197	210.077
20	L. Sargeant Williams	2	Williams	Mercedes	38	+3.057 1'20.172	0.367	209.115
View full results

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