Max Verstappen scored his series-leading seventh win of the Formula 1 season in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
However, the Oracle Red Bull Racing had to fight every lap to hold off polesitter Lando Norris and secure his third win in a row at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“I think what made the race was the beginning,” said Verstappen. “I took the lead on lap two, and that’s where I had my buffer, then in that first stint where I could eke out that gap a little bit.
“I think after that, we had to drive quite a defensive race. Lando and McLaren, they were very, very quick today, especially on deg. It seems always the last few laps of the stint, they were very, very fast.
“But then I think we did everything well, we drove quite an aggressive strategy, but luckily it paid out until the end. It was quite close until the end but very happy to win here.”
At the start, a frantic jump by George Russell allowed the Mercedes driver to vault to the lead while Norris and Verstappen tussled. However, Verstappen caught Russell on lap two to take the top spot.
Norris struggled to get around Russell throughout the opening stint, allowing Verstappen to gap the field. While Norris attempted to close in the latter stages of the race, he’d cross the finish line just over two seconds behind the defending F-1 champion.
Behind the front two, the final podium position went to seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who earned his first podium finish of the season.
Hamilton’s teammate Russell brought his Mercedes home in fourth after dropping later in the race due to the harder compound tires the team elected to use in the final stint.
Ferrari followed suit with Charles Leclerc claiming fifth ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri vaulted from 10th on the grid to seventh with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez claiming eighth place to score a net gain of zero after starting from the same spot.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly placing ninth ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon in 10th.
Nico Hulkenberg earned Haas F-1 an 11th place finish. Teammate Kevin Magnussen was score a lap down in 17th.