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Tyres NorthamptonA Verstappen win is a familiar story, but varying pit stop strategies in Spain meant this was as much a Red Bull victory as it was a McLaren loss. Norris began the race from pole position after pipping his Dutch friend to P1 by just 0.020s on Saturday. Yet his time in the lead lasted just a few hundred metres, as he fell behind Verstappen at lights out on the long run to Turn 1.
However, Verstappen wasn't the one leading the opening lap. Russell, who started the race from P4 on the second row with teammate Lewis Hamilton, had a dream launch into the opening chicane. Russell used the slipstream from Verstappen, then Norris, to sweep around the outside of Turn 1 and somehow clinch P1, much to the shock of everyone. Sadly for the Briton, it wouldn't last.
Russell tried his best to open a gap to Verstappen so that the chasing Red Bull wouldn't have DRS to attempt an overtake. The pace of the Red Bull was better in the early miles, however, and it only took until the start of Lap 3 for Russell to go on the defensive. Verstappen had his team telling him the early laps would be the best opportunity to pass. He dutifully opened his rear wing, forcing his Mercedes rival to the inside while he committed to the racing line and grabbed a lead he would not relinquish.
Although the race never reached the same mesmerising entertainment levels as in Montreal a fortnight earlier, strategy and similar speeds behind Verstappen kept intrigue through the 66 laps. The Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz fought throughout, and Hamilton remained a threat for the podium despite losing out to Russell off the line. Any of four teams could take silverware, with the order only settled late in the race.
Russell was the first of the frontrunners to switch from Pirelli's red-ringed soft compound tyre to try and trigger an undercut from P2. A slow stop for the Mercedes man ruined any chance of possibly leapfrogging Verstappen, though, and he, instead, had to defend from P6-sitting Sainz, who stopped alongside him. The undercut would've worked, too, as evidenced by Sainz emerging ahead of the one-lap-later-stopping Hamilton, although the Spaniard soon fell behind anyway.
As most drivers swapped for fresh tyres, Norris became a lonely figure in the lead on heavily-used softs. McLaren asked their driver if he wanted to cover off Russell, but the plucky youngster has victory in mind, replying that he wanted "to go and get Max" instead. Any hopes of closing the gap came from running an alternative pit-stop strategy and hoping for a Safety Car. Norris eventually switched to Pirelli's medium compound rubber eight laps later than Russell and six laps after Verstappen.
That delay had Norris fall to P5 once he finally pitted, albeit with fresher tyres. He soon put those to good use, speeding past Sainz, Hamilton, and finally, Russell over the following 12 laps to return to P2. His final move of the three was an audacious overtake around the outside of the long uphill Turn 3, completing it by Turn 7, evidencing how well the 2024 McLaren is working against its engine supplier.
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Russell's troubles didn't end there, either, as his team opted to pit him for Pirelli's hard compound on Lap 36. With only Sainz in the leading pack following suit, the Brit ended up slower than his teammate, who pitted for softs on Lap 43. Mercedes vs Mercedes action followed, and Hamilton came out on top, taking P3 and his first podium trip of 2024.
As much as the audience enjoyed the earlier wheel-to-wheel action from Norris, he was some 10 seconds behind Verstappen after his second and final stop to Pirelli's softs. The McLaren man had the impossible task of closing that gap, and although he reduced the deficit to 2.2s by the chequered flag, it was a day of what might've been for Norris, who will feel this was a win that got away from him.
Verstappen was the Spanish victor, but with Sergio Perez finishing in an anonymous P8, it's clear that Red Bull does not have the fastest car in 2024. The world champion driver, not the world champion team, is making the difference on track, while McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari are all comparable on pace. Verstappen must continue his excellent work on his team's home turf on Sunday, with F1 taking to Austria for the second part of this European triple header of races.