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 are 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 be
just mind games but Verstappen has always been a quite 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. And by slightly sluggish we do mean a fraction of a second. As it were,
it was George Russell who swept dramatically into the lead of the race from
fourth.
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 of the race by being stuck behind Russell it shows that the McLaren
had the pace to win. And 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.
And 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 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 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 tenth for Alpine.
An interesting factoid from the 2024 Spanish
grand prix is that not only were there no retirements but there was 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 twenty best drivers in the world. But
not a single yellow flag is perhaps an indication that the circuit de Catalunya
just doesn’t have enough jeopardy like, 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 the circuit de
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 chomping at the bit to get back to the top step of the podium.
