The sixth F1 race of the season was run in Barcelona. Red Bull took a double win, with Max Verstappen rising to the top of the World Series. Alfa Romeon Valtteri Bottas was sixth.
22.5. 17:56 • Updated May 22nd. 20:26
Red Bullin Max Verstappen has won the sixth F1 of the season, the Spanish GP in Barcelona. Red Bull took a double win when Sergio Perez was another. The difficult early season for Mercedes got a little joyful lift when George Russell was third and Lewis Hamilton rose from the tail of the whole company to the fifth.
Alfa Romeon Valtteri Bottas was perfectly sixth behind the top stables.
The most significant moment of the race was seen after 27 laps: Ferrari toasted in a safe-feeling lead Charles Leclerc had to suspend due to a technical failure.
Leclerc shot to the top – a rare driving error from Verstappen
Leclerc, who led the World Cup before the race, held the lead at the start, although Verstappen defied. Russell rose to third in the start, Ferrari Carlos Sainz fell from the third square to the fifth.
Bottas dropped a couple of notches at the start, to nine. However, Bottas soon rose back to seventh, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Haasin Kevin Magnussen crash. The duo fell on the tail of the gang but were able to continue.
Sainz made a driving error in the early laps, spun on the sand and fell to 11th place.
Soon Verstappen overtook his teammate Perez, rising to third. However, Verstappen could not get past Russell in any way because Red Bull had problems with the DRS, the rear wing that could be opened. Verstappen went hot on team radio for a long time when he couldn’t get past Russell.
– Aren’t we even making the DRS work ?! Totally unbelievable! he shouted.
The stable, in turn, instructed Verstappen not to close the rear wing himself. “If the button is pressed more than once, it will close,” the stable said to its hot driver.
Verstappen’s Red Bull also had problems with the DRS in time.
Leclerc had to suspend – Red Bull had a team order
Charles Leclerc seemed to be pushing for a safe-feeling lead, especially when Verstappen didn’t get past Russell until everything was destroyed in the 27/66 round. Something broke down from Leclerc’s car, this drove to the depot and stopped. Viaplay expert Ossi Oikarinen estimates that the problem could be due to turbo.
– No no no! What happened, Leclerc parked on team radio.
When Leclerc interrupted, Russell rose to the top for a moment. Soon, however, Perez swept past, while Verstappen went to the depot.
Most of the stables made three depot stops because the weather was severe for the tires: the air temperature was about 35 degrees and the track temperature was almost 50 degrees.
Due to the depot stops, Red Bull took over the double lead. After 47/66 laps, Red Bull was instructed by Perez, who held the top spot: Verstappen must pass if his pace is better. “Terribly unfair,” Perez replied on team radio, but soon did the work as instructed.
With 15 laps left, Verstappen took the top spot and Red Bull pushed for a double win.
Verstappen rose to the top of the World Series and topped the Red Bull manufacturers table.
Valtteri Bottas rose to the race on a couple of occasions, even third, when those ahead went to the depot. In the end, however, Russell, Sainz, and Hamilton easily got past with fresh tires. Bottas was the only one in the top ten to visit the depot only twice. In any case, Bottas has a great place behind the top six. Bottas has been in the top eight in every race this season, with the exception of Saudi Arabia.
In the race, the rankings changed constantly as a lot of depot stops were seen. The improved pace of Mercedes is also indicated by the fact that Lewis Hamilton was able to rise to fifth, even though he fell off the tail of the crew in an initial crash.
Read more about the race in Sports’ Moment from the moment. There you will also find driver comments. The F1 season will continue as early as next week, driving the legendary Monaco GP.