WELL into the third year of the current regulations it is clear that the teams, and cars, are beginning to converge in terms of performance.
While some, like Mercedes and Ferrari, still linger slightly adrift, it is evident that McLaren is well and truly at the sharp end of the grid.
Lando Norris continues to underline this, and did so again in Spain by taking pole position by 0.0020 of a second from Max Verstappen.
Verstappen himself, in the post-quali press conference, said he believed the McLaren to be the quickest car. It could just be mind games, but Verstappen has always been quite a straightforward character. He wasn’t bluffing either.
The McLaren, as has been shown over the last two months, is a machine to be reckoned with.
The only factor that likely kept Norris from winning the Spanish Grand Prix was a slightly sluggish pull away. By slightly sluggish, we do mean a fraction of a second.
As it was, it was George Russell who swept dramatically into the lead from fourth place. This left Verstappen and Norris in second and third, and this was enough to seriously dent the McLaren driver’s chance at winning.
Verstappen, however, as decisive as ever, made short work of Russell and took the lead of the race.
It wasn’t the same for Norris, who was stuck behind the Mercedes until the first flurry of pitstops started on lap 15.
However, unlike his closest competitors, Norris opted to extend his first stint, to earn himself fresher tyres for the middle stint of the race. It did mean that he emerged from the pits behind the Mercedes of Russell.
A determined Norris took second place on lap 35, with a brilliant move around the outside of Russell.
By now Verstappen held a near nine-and-a-half second gap in the lead. Norris’s fresher tyres and superior pace reduced the gap to just under six seconds by the time Verstappen made his second stop.
This time around Norris opted to stop only two laps after Verstappen, which would allow him to rejoin in second place.
As neither Mercedes could keep pace with the leading two, it quickly became clear that Norris had a quicker car than Verstappen. Again, he reduced the gap from 6.6 seconds to just over two seconds by the end of the race.
Given that Norris had lost just over four seconds at the start by being stuck behind Russell, it shows that the McLaren had the pace to win.
It was evident, too, in Norris’s demeanour post-race. McLaren and Norris are no longer satisfied with finishing second, and they shouldn’t be.
The car is clearly quick enough to win, and the expectation has risen to the level of victory being the only acceptable result.
While there will be those that bemoan yet another Verstappen win, the last few drives have been mightily impressive.
It is clear that Red Bull must be at the very top of their game to win these races. With more than half of the season to go, and assuming that McLaren can maintain their pace, it is set up for a cracking run all the way to Abu Dhabi.
Norris’s second place in Spain also moves him to second in the driver’s standings for the first time in his career. Speaking of firsts, Lewis Hamilton’s third place this weekend marks his first podium of the season.
George Russell was ultimately fourth for Mercedes, while Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fifth and sixth for Ferrari. It was, although not as bad as in Canada, another disappointing weekend for Ferrari.
Oscar Piastri was seventh in the other McLaren, while Checo Perez was an underwhelming eighth for Red Bull. Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were ninth and 10th for Alpine.
An interesting factoid from the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix is that not only were there no retirements, but also no safety car, no virtual safety car, and not a single yellow flag.
It could perhaps be deduced that the Spanish circuit simply doesn’t offer a genuine driving challenge.
Yes, those that occupy the cockpits of the cars in the world’s premier racing series are, arguably, the 20 best drivers in the world, but not a single yellow flag is perhaps an indication that the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya just doesn’t have enough jeopardy as, for example, a Suzuka does.
While tyre degradation demands pinpoint strategic calls and requires drivers to balance their driving on a knife edge, there isn’t much else that is offered in the way of being a real trial.
Perhaps it is time to reconsider Catalunya’s spot on the calendar?
If Max Verstappen gets a boost from supporters, then he’ll be launched into the stratosphere this weekend as F1 makes its way to Austria.
It won’t be straightforward though for Red Bull. After all, it is here that the famed “Last-Lap-Lando” moniker was born, and given Norris’s recent run, he’ll be champing at the bit to get back to the top step of the podium.
