F1 results: Verstappen wins Spanish GP, Mercedes takes 2-3

Verstappen dominated the race after fending off a first-corner challenge for Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

Mercedes had the second-fastest car in the race, and Lewis Hamilton and George Russell filled the podium spots, ahead of the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who rose from 11^th to finish fourth.

2023 F1 Spanish GP race results

Cla	Driver		Chassis	Engine	Gap	Interval
1	Max Verstappen		Red Bull	Red Bull
2	Lewis Hamilton		Mercedes	Mercedes	24.090	24.090
3	George Russell		Mercedes	Mercedes	32.389	8.299
4	Sergio Perez		Red Bull	Red Bull	35.812	3.423
5	Carlos Sainz		Ferrari	Ferrari	45.698	9.886
6	Lance Stroll		Aston Martin	Mercedes	1'03.320	17.622
7	Fernando Alonso		Aston Martin	Mercedes	1'04.127	0.807
8	Esteban Ocon		Alpine	Renault	1'09.242	5.115
9	Zhou Guanyu		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	1'11.878	2.636
10	Pierre Gasly		Alpine	Renault	1'13.530	1.652
11	Charles Leclerc		Ferrari	Ferrari	1'14.419	0.889
12	Yuki Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	1'15.416	0.997
13	Oscar Piastri		McLaren	Mercedes
14	Nyck de Vries		AlphaTauri	Red Bull
15	Nico Hulkenberg		Haas	Ferrari
16	Alex Albon		Williams	Mercedes
17	Lando Norris		McLaren	Mercedes
18	Kevin Magnussen		Haas	Ferrari
19	Valtteri Bottas		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari
20	Logan Sargeant		Williams	Mercedes
View full results

 

How the 2023 F1 Spanish GP was won

Verstappen, who started on medium-compound tyres, just held his pole position advantage on the run to Turn 1, fending off the soft-shod Sainz’s attack around the outside of the first corner. Behind them, third-placed qualifier Lando Norris (McLaren) and a fast-starting Hamilton touched at Turn 2, and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) passed Hamilton moments later for third at Turn 5.

Hamilton settled into fourth place, ahead of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine, but Norris was forced to pit at the end of the opening lap for a new nose section. Russell passed Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin for sixth on lap seven.

Hamilton repassed Stroll for third on lap eight, and Russell gained another place from Ocon on lap 11 to run fifth.

After a disastrous Q2 stranded him in 11^th on the grid, Sergio Perez moved through the field in the second Red Bull and ran eighth by lap 10.

With Hamilton closing in, Sainz pitted for mediums on lap 16, and the Mercedes duo were happy to run longer on the softs. Hamilton pitted nine laps later, rejoining behind Sainz, but on much fresher mediums and Russell stopped a lap later, staying just ahead of Ocon.

Verstappen pitted on lap 27, switching his mediums for hards, while Perez ran a lap longer and rejoined back in ninth.

Hamilton passed Sainz for second at Turn 1 on lap 28, but was already 12s behind Verstappen by this point, as Russell passed Stroll for fourth. Just after half distance, Russell also passed Sainz to make it a Mercedes 2-3, while Perez carved his way up to fifth on his fresh rubber.

Sainz made his second pitstop just before two-third’s distance on lap 42, switching to hards.

Russell pitted for softs on lap 46, and Hamilton followed suit five laps later. Perez also stopped for softs, rejoining 3s behind Sainz. That allowed Verstappen to make a comfort stop for softs for the run to the finish too – despite getting a black and white flag for exceeding track limits on three occasions.

Alonso passed Ocon with 14 laps to go, albeit only just after the Frenchman made a hard defensive move on the run to Turn 1. A lap later, Perez passed Sainz for fourth and set off after the Mercedes but ran out of time to catch Russell.

Sainz finished fifth, ahead of the Astons of Stroll and Alonso. Ocon was eighth from Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) – who got a 5s penalty for forcing a car off track – and Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo).

Due to Tsunoda's penalty, Gasly got the final point in 10th.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc started from the pitlane on hard tyre, after the rear-end of his car was changed following his terrible qualifying performance, behind Logan Sargeant’s Williams.

He went on an aggressive tyre strategy, switching to softs on lap 17 and back to hards on lap 43, but he could only finish 12^th.

2023 F1 Spanish GP fastest laps

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car/Engine	Time	Delay
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'16.330
2	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'16.666	0.336
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1'16.676	0.346
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	1'17.182	0.852
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1'17.875	1.545
6	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1'18.069	1.739
7	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'18.083	1.753
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1'18.242	1.912
9	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'18.357	2.027
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine/Renault	1'18.375	2.045
11	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1'18.403	2.073
12	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1'18.594	2.264
13	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren/Mercedes	1'18.679	2.349
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'18.722	2.392
15	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1'18.753	2.423
16	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas/Ferrari	1'18.776	2.446
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1'18.904	2.574
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine/Renault	1'18.946	2.616
19	23	Alexander Albon	Williams/Mercedes	1'19.133	2.803
20	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams/Mercedes	1'19.247	2.917

2023 F1 Spanish GP pitstops

Cla	Driver		1		2		3		4
1	Max Verstappen		M	26	H	26	S	16
2	Lewis Hamilton		S	27	M	26	S	19
3	George Russell		S	25	M	20	S	24
4	Sergio Perez		M	27	H	23	S	16
5	Carlos Sainz		S	18	M	26	H	25
6	Lance Stroll		S	17	S	23	H	32
7	Fernando Alonso		S	22	S	28	H	22
8	Esteban Ocon		S	16	M	22	H	31
9	Zhou Guanyu		S	9	H	27	H	30
10	Pierre Gasly		S	22	M	20	H	27
11	Charles Leclerc		H	16	S	25	H	50
12	Yuki Tsunoda		S	10	H	24	M	32
13	Oscar Piastri		S	19	H	22	M	26
14	Nyck de Vries		S	9	H	29	M	27
15	Nico Hulkenberg		S	11	M	18	H	17	M	22
16	Alex Albon		S	16	H	21	M	28
17	Lando Norris		S	3	H	21	M	28	S	18
18	Kevin Magnussen		S	10	M	14	H	18	M	23
19	Valtteri Bottas		S	5	H	34	H	26
20	Logan Sargeant		M	17	H	19	H	29
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