Next victory for McLaren: Oscar Piatri has won the Grand Prix of Spain ahead of Teammate Lando Norris and thus expanded its recently wobbling tour in the Formula 1 World Cup. Afterwards everything looked at “Rammbock” Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen ran steamly with anger through the paddock when the McLaren duo still celebrated its double success. In the end, the heat-grand prix in Spain only had one leading actor, and it was not on the podium: World champion Verstappen in the Red Bull had sniffed at the victory, but had fallen back late-and then fell with anger the Mercedes from George Russell. For this he got a ten-second penalty, which is why he ended up only tenth and conceded three penalty points. Overall, he is now at eleven for a period of twelve months. From the twelfth point, Verstappen would be closed to a Grand Prix.
“Next time I’ll bring him a few handkerchiefs“said Verstappen when he was later addressed to Russell’s unbelievers.There is nothing to say” – and he doesn’t regret the action afterwards either.”You shouldn’t regret anything in life“, said Verstappen:”You only live once. “ Red Bull Motor Sports Advisor Helmut Marko had “Sky” from “heated mood“Spoken,”Max has been driven for a long time, there is a certain frustration, which then expresses itself in the driving style“.
Max Verstappen ran visibly frustrated through the paddock after the race
Driving maneuvers like in “Mario Kart”
At the very front, Oscar Piatri had won the McLaren duel with Lando Norris, expanding his leadership in the World Cup classification to ten points. Third finished Charles Leclerc, and all three looked at the highlights of the final phase in disbelief in the winner’s room: Verstappen was the loser of a late Safety car phase, when he was supposed to return his position at the team’s instruction, he drove into the Mercedes on the side.
“I’ve done that before,” said Norris grinning: “With Mario Kart!“Accident opponents Russell also felt”on racing simulations or go-kart races“Reminds,”I don’t know what was going on in him. It felt on purpose. “The Mercedes pilot also reminded of Verstappen’s role model as a world champion. The Dutch himself said narrowly that it was more”a misjudgment“Has on the steering wheel.
A profiteer of the confusion was Nico Hülkenberg, the German steered his clean, completely surprisingly, in fifth place, even passed Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton in the final phase. “It’s fun, such races are mega“, he said at” RTL “: “They don’t seem so often for us, so you like to take it with you.“
Nico Hülkenberg drove in fifth place from starting position 15
Strong start of Verstappen
About two hours earlier, Verstappen had made an excellent impression at the start. At the start, the four -time world champion Max Verstappen tord the duplication of the McLaren and pushed himself past Lando Norris in second place. Meanwhile, Oscar Piatri got away well and stayed out of all position fights. The German Niko Hülkenberg put a strong start away from the top in the clean and jumped from 15 to ten.
After ten rounds, Lewis Hamilton received the next setback in his first Ferrari season. Charles Leclerc has been the faster of the two Ferrari pilots for a few rounds, so Hamilton was instructed by radio to leave the Monegassen past. In the end, the Englishman finished again behind his teammate, but still went into sixth place.
Three-stop strategy from Red Bull ensures tension
At the top, Piatri built up a cushion of about four seconds quite effortlessly, behind it the McLaren-Box Norris pointed out to put pressure on them. “Compared to them, I have no grip”the world champion already sparked with a view of the McLaren, five rounds later Norris went out of the slipstream. But Red Bull had expected this scenario and opted for an aggressive three-stop strategy: Verstappen went to the box very early, took the soft, fastest tires again and then made a lot of time.
Both McLaren only came to the first stop after a third of the race and were now back behind Verstappen. The Dutch took its second stop shortly before the race, was now by far the fastest in the field with the fresh tires – due to the different strategies, it was now a remote duel with the McLaren, on average there was about a second faster and caused nervous radio sayings in the competition.
Motor damage brakes Antonelli out
An accident by Kimi Antonelli caused ten laps before the end caused a use of the safety car and new uncertainty in the field. An engine damage braked the Italian on his fight. Max Verstappen should play the re-start six rounds before the end, but the Dutch left the line and Charles Leclerc overtook the defending champion after a driving error.
Racing winner Piatri expanded his lead before the upcoming Canada trip in two weeks. He now has 186 points, Norris comes to 176. Verstappen only got one point and only has 137 – and thus 49 points less than Piatri.
McLaren-Pilot Oscar Piatri was able to expand his lead in the overall ranking