Carlos Sainz P5, Charles Leclerc P11 at Circuit de Catalunya - full race report

As was the case ahead of final practice yesterday, clouds were gathering above the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. But despite some clouds, there was a lot of bright sunshine over the pit lane as the light at the end of it went green with just 50 minutes to go until the start of 2023 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix in Montmelo. The pole-sitter, Max Verstappen, was at the front of the queue, and took the opportunity to do a practice start on his way onto track.

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was hard on the tyres before this year, but the re-introduction of the fast penultimate corner means the left-front tyre will get some serious punishment.

Scuderia Ferrari investigated whether there were any issues with Charles Leclerc’s car after qualifying in 19th on Saturday. The Monegasque will start from the pit lane after the Maranello team broke parc ferme rules: “I heard from the Ferrari engineering team and they haven’t found anything wrong with the car,” said Nico Rosberg for Sky Sports before the start of the Spanish Grand Prix – “They changed a lot of things, the whole rear end, and went to a race setup, so a softer car, more downforce, to give him more confidence for the race.” – the former world champion added.

Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso were in arms together at the front of the grid during the national anthem. Just 11 minutes were left until the Spanish GP was under way in Montmelo.

Rain caused plenty of drama in Qualifying yesterday and there was a 40 per cent chance of wet weather this afternoon. Track temperature was 35 degrees Celsius and there were no dark clouds around with five minutes until the formation lap began at the Circuit de Catalunya.

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The 20 cars left the grid cleanly. With Max Verstappen on the mediums, it was vital to get some temperature into the tyres or he could have been vulnerable at the start. All but four drivers were starting the Spanish Grand Prix on soft tyres: one of the three not doing that is Dutchman pole-sitter, who started on the medium compound, along with Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez in P11. The other two cars not on softs were the duo starting from the pit lane, Charles Leclerc and Logan Sargeant: the Monegasque was on the hard compound, with the American on the medium.

Carlos Sainz tried everything to go around the outside of Max Verstappen at Turn One but unfortunately he couldn’t get by! The Red Bull man held on. Lewis Hamilton nipped past Lando Norris into third at the start and Norris picked up damage running into the back of the Mercedes. It was a disaster for Norris as he came into the pit lane after contact with the Mercedes. On went a new front wing and hard tyres, but now had so much ground to make up. Lance Stroll had a great start and overtook Lewis Hamilton in the middle sector on Lap One. It was Verstappen in the lead though from Carlos Sainz, then Stroll, Hamilton, Ocon, Alonso and Russell.

Amid that frantic start it was worth noting that George Russell has already made five places jumping from 12th to seventh. However he was noted by the stewards for leaving the track at turn one on lap one and potentially making up places. On Lap 8, Lewis Hamilton squeezed past Lance Stroll into Turn One with a lovely move. That puts the British driver in third and Carlos Sainz was just two seconds up the road. More thrilling overtaking as Oscar Piastri held on around the outside to pass Nico Hulkenberg. That was for 11th place with Yuki Tsunoda already ahead of them in 10th.

The stewards then completed their investigation into George Russell leaving the track on lap one and decided no punishment was necessary. By lap 11, Charles Leclerc was able to recover up to P11, also thanks to several driver pitting after starting with the soft tyre. Unfortunately as expected, it was very comfortable for Verstappen: he built his lead to over five seconds on the Ferrari driver, while Hamilton was closing in on the Spaniard at just 1.4s behind.

Martin Brundle explained the advantage of a tyre change on this circuit: “If you come in for a new set of tyres, it’s like you’re driving in a different category, a different racing car.” Just to prove his point, Nico Hulkenberg set the fastest lap of the race from 14th on a new set of mediums.

On lap 16, as Hamilton was closing in on Carlos Sainz, the Ferrari driver was called to pit: the Spaniard asked “why” as he dropped to ninth, behind his Maranello teammate. Hamilton was now second. Charles Leclerc let his teammate through after Turn Nine then pitted for soft tyres, which put the Monegasque back down to 18th.

Unfortunately for the Maranello team, the race pace of the SF-23 cars was once again very poor. Despite the upgrades introduced this weekend in Montmelo, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were clearly struggling on track: even with soft tyres the Monegasque was not able to easily make his way through the field, while the Spaniard had no reply against the Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who needed just a few laps to pass Carlos and take P2 and P3.

At this stage the Italian side could only hope for a fourth place finish for Carlos Sainz, but Sergio Perez was quickly recovering the gap behind the wheel of the Red Bull RB19 car. On lap 42, the Spaniard was called in by Ferrari for his second and final stint: Carlos returned on track with the hard tyres in P6, behind Fernando Alonso. Shortly afterwards, Charles Leclerc stopped from seventh and came out in 14th, a whole lap behind leader Max Verstappen.

The Monegasque driver finished the race with a final stint on hard tyres, despite the fact that he specifically told the Maranello team to pit him for softs. Another race to forget for Scuderia Ferrari, who at this stage has also lost the battle with Mercedes for second place behind Red Bull.

On lap 46/66: George Russell pitted for soft tyres and he was now in fourth as Sergio Perez, who was on the hards, had yet to pit for a second time.

Pierre Gasly got past Oscar Piastri for 11th place after being held up by the McLaren for around 10 laps. There was a five-second gap ahead of him to Zhou and a point, as Charles Leclerc was still outside the top ten at thi stage and was trying to recover the gap to the McLaren man for P12.

Lewis Hamilton stopped from second – a move which prompted Sergio Perez to box from third. The Mexican returned behind the SF-23 of Carlos Sainz, but with fresh soft tyres the Red Bull man easily got past the Spaniard. George Russell was eight seconds ahead of Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton was just another five seconds up the road. At this rate, Perez would be challenging for the podium.

Yuki Tsunoda was hit with a penalty for forcing Zhou off the track earlier, which was good news for Charles Leclerc who was withing that gap, as he was chasing Pierre Gasly on the last laps. Still, that was not enough for Charles to at least take one miserable point, as the Ferrari man was not able to overtake Gasly on the last lap.

It was a hat-trick of wins for Max Verstappen as he cruised to victory at the Spanish GP. Lewis Hamilton took second and team-mate George Russell joined him on the podium. Sergio Perez settled for fourth, with Carlos Sainz fifth and the Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso crossing the line together in seventh and eighth.