Spain Race Reaction
Image: Red Bull Content Pool
It was yet another win and a third grand chelem in the bag with the Spanish GP, number 40 for Max Verstappen - surpassing Sebastian Vettel’s record 38 wins for Red Bull and only one victory away from equalling the legendary Ayrton Senna’s 41 wins. There are a decent few talking points to go over as we look westward to Montreal in two weeks’ time; let’s get into it, shall we?
Some good, some bad and hints of ugly for Red Bull
The above heading may confuse you - surely it was a walk in the park for Verstappen on Sunday? It indeed was, keen-eyed reader, however the feeling of uneasiness on the other half of the garage is likely growing for Mexico’s very own Sergio Pérez. After replacing the sometimes overlooked Alexander Albon for the 2021 season, Pérez has been a fantastic asset to the Milton Keynes team, providing some of the best defensive driving F1 has seen in a while and arguably aiding teammate Verstappen in winning his first championship title - but let’s not get into that!
With an off in qualifying on Saturday (meaning a lowly P11 start) and a general lack of performance in Monaco and other recent outings, it’s fair to say that Helmut Marko, Christian Horner and the rest of the big-wigs at Red Bull are beginning to whisper discussions of a potential replacement. Perhaps an existing Alpha Tauri F1 driver? A Red Bull Junior - Liam Lawson in Super Formula, Dennis Hauger or Ayumu Iwasa from Formula 2? It’s anyone’s guess.
The Mexican clawed his way back up to P4 as the chequered flag fell, missing out on a podium by three and a half seconds to Lewis and George at Mercedes, who seem to be having a second wind of sorts as of late. Objectively disappointing considering what we know Checo is capable of.
Mercedes on the rise?
After their worst season to date that was 2022, the German works team is looking to be on the up, with the upgrades that fans and journalists were promised seemingly working a treat around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya come race day. Doing away with the zero-sidepod ideology has clearly paid dividends to the eight-time constructors champions these last three races, this time round scoring a double-podium finish.
Image: @MercedesAMGF1 on Twitter
Russell was able to stretch his legs and get his elbows out to storm up to third place from down in 12th, clearly feeling comfortable with the car. This affirming result was met with fighting words from the Brit:
“Our sights are set on victory”
Seven-time champ Lewis Hamilton seemed positively content too, stating:
“This is what we were hoping for when we brought the upgrades … this result is definitely what we’re working towards”
So, with a long season of 15 races left to go, can Mercedes return to their former glory as they overtake Aston Martin in points? Time will only tell.
Podium hopes fizzle out for the home heroes
It’s been a decidedly disappointing weekend for Ferrari and especially Aston Martin, with the Spaniards in Sainz and Alonso both unable to give their native crowd the champagne shower they’d have liked to see. A combination of Fernando’s damaged floor and Ferrari’s unending tug of war with the SF-23’s driveability and heavy tyre degradation spelled danger for both teams, losing out to a resurgent Mercedes. Aston Martin seemed content nonetheless, although they’d prefer wins or podiums.
It is known that certain tracks suit certain cars better than others (Lando’s P3 in qualifying as an example), so not all is entirely lost for Ferrari and Aston Martin. Again, it’s such a long season ahead and who knows what the 10 teams on the grid can cook up R&D-wise over the summer break.
Painful losses and low-blows in the midfield
With two more points-finishes than the zero of his teammate Nyck de Vries, F1’s man from Japan Yuki Tsunoda has put in some impressive performances considering the machinery under his feet. Qualifying has been kinder to Yuki than race days so far: An impressive P8 at Baku and a P9 in Monaco - not half bad for a team sat second last in the Constructor’s, all 2 points of whom have been scored by Yuki.
Image: @AlphaTauriF1 on Twitter
The Alpha Tauri driver was having an amazing race in Spain, until lap 56/66, where he found himself having to defend from Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu at Turn 1. Zhou attempted a tidy move around the outside but, mid-apex, he ran out of tarmac and was forced to cut across the yellow run-off and take the escape road to avoid a costly collision. This garnered the Japanese driver a 5-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track - therefore putting him out of the points by demoting him from P9 to P12.
Tsunoda went on record post-race, claiming “I don’t understand why it was a penalty. It feels really unfair, really harsh.”
Alpha Tauri had a pretty blunt reaction to the FIA’s penalising decision, with fewer words this time speaking louder than actions:
Elsewhere on the grid, Lando Norris had a race in which he felt it was “unlikely to finish in the top 10” after falling back from P4 as the race began to P17 at the chequered flag. A mixture of front-wing damage caused by a first-lap collision with Hamilton, with a pit stop needed, and general lack of pace that McLaren are grappling with so far this season meant it was a Sunday to forget for the young Brit.
Due to Tsunoda’s penalty, Zhou Guanyu placed 9th as the flag fell, a great result for only his second year in this high-octane, unforgiving sport.
Off to Montreal we go
Well, with round 7 of the 2023 season and the 33rd running of the Gran Premio de España complete, it’s the Canadian Grand Prix next.
Will Red Bull continue their 100% win rate this year so far and set an unprecedented record? Can the former glory of Mercedes find its way back to the sport? Will we see an Aston Martin win anytime soon? How will development shake up the top teams to the midfield?
It seems as the weeks go by that despite the other nine teams’ efforts, nobody is able to get remotely close to the pace of Red Bull, especially with Max Verstappen at the helm as defending champ. Having said that, he’s not really defending from much this year - it will be truly impressive if another team is able to snatch a win from him, ruling out mechanical failures.
Thus is the beauty of Formula One! Keep it right here on Race Reaction as we cover the races yet to come this season.
Here’s the finishing order from Sunday’s race:
1 - Max Verstappen
2 - Lewis Hamilton
3 - George Russell
4 - Sergio Pérez
5 - Carlos Sainz
6 - Lance Stroll
7 - Fernando Alonso
8 - Esteban Ocon
9 - Zhou Guanyu
10 - Pierre Gasly
11 - Charles Leclerc
12 - Yuki Tsunoda
13 - Oscar Piastri
14 - Nyck de Vries
15 - Nico Hulkenberg
16 - Alexander Albon
17 - Lando Norris
18 - Kevin Magnussen
19 - Valtteri Bottas
20 - Logan Sargeant
