Lando Norris’s illusion in the Spanish Grand Prix lasted until the first braking point: the McLaren driver at the start only kept an eye on Max Verstappen, who overtook him aggressively on the inside at the first corner, while George Russell with the Mercedes made a masterful move on the outside to take the lead, holding the front for two laps. Then the Dutchman took control of the race and never let it go except during the pit stop phases.
Red Bull is certainly not the best car at the moment, but Verstappen gave another demonstration of his unparalleled talent to secure his 61st career victory in the Spanish GP, which is his seventh win of the season and fourth in Barcelona, the third in a row. The Milton Keynes pit wall had clear ideas even before the start, sending the three-time world champion off with a set of used soft tires, while poleman Norris had new ones, reserving the fresh set for the final stint to wear out McLaren.
Verstappen sees the role of challenger in the championship by Charles Leclerc fade away, as the figure of Lando Norris clearly emerges. With second place at Montmeló, Norris becomes the pursuer with a gap of 69 points from Max and two points ahead of the Monegasque. Max is a “monster” because he makes very difficult victories look easy, given that today the MCL38 was the most competitive car. Lando finished 2.2 seconds behind Red Bull, also recording the fastest lap (1’17″115), but the bad start cost him a possible victory and the defeat stings a lot because he wasted a great opportunity.
Now let’s take a detailed look at how things went for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at the 4.657-kilometre Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya:
The two Ferrari cars are ready to face the tenth round of the 2024 Formula 1 season. In the minutes leading up to the formation lap, the radio channels are full of chatter. The last useful information from the race engineers before lowering the visor. The front runners all have Soft tires. Lando Norris chooses a new set like the two Ferraris, while the others have used red-banded Pirellis. The installation lap involves the usual procedures to activate the compounds. Lots of steering wheel work for the front axle, and hard braking for the rear. Before lining up on the starting grid, the Ferrari drivers are asked to perform 2 burnouts to give the rear tires one last temperature boost.
Green light! Charles Leclerc starts very well and follows George Russell’s fantastic progression. But in turn 1, he is forced into an outside trajectory to avoid contact with Lando Norris, which effectively makes him lose all that advantage. Carlos Sainz stays back, merely avoiding trouble. On the next lap, however, the Spaniard attacks his teammate, overtakes him on the straight, but in turn 1, there is contact between the two. Fortunately, it’s just a slight touch between Charles’s front left and Carlos’s rear right, with no consequences. This is confirmed by the pit wall check.
In the next 5 laps, nothing notable happens. After retaking the lead, Max Verstappen is managing the race. Behind him, the group of pursuers forms a DRS train, making overtaking practically impossible. Meanwhile, the Ferrari engineers offer plenty of advice. They talk about some mappings to better manage traction and avoid overusing the tires, as well as brake management to prevent harmful micro-locks. Shortly after, the first tire phase update arrives to check the condition of the tires.
On lap 10, the usual “tyre is ready” message comes, indicating that the tires have completed the warm-up process and are in the correct operating window. So, they can push a bit more now. Bryan Bozzi advises using a knob to manage rotation in turns 4 and 5, while Charles Leclerc needs to enter turn 9 with less speed. As expected, in this phase with the Soft tires, the drivers are trying to preserve the compounds as much as possible, limiting traction and speed in fast and support corners.
Riccardo Adami announces that Ferrari is currently on Plan A. The tire saving is effective for the two Ferrari cars, as confirmed by the pit wall. Lap 16, Carlos Sainz pits, coinciding with George Russell’s stop. The Spaniard switches to Medium tires, aiming for a long stint if possible. With this move, he takes the position from Lewis Hamilton, and once back on track, he gets behind fellow countryman Fernando Alonso, quickly passing Lance Stroll as well. On the contrary, Charles Leclerc is trying to extend the first stint as much as possible.
Bryan Bozzi asks Charles Leclerc how many laps he can do at the current pace, just as Lewis Hamilton “gets revenge” by retaking the position from Carlos, who drops to seventh since Oscar Piastri has not yet made his stop. The Monegasque is in second position with 22 laps on his tires. His lap time is about 1.5s slower than the drivers who have already switched to the Mediums. Bryan Bozzi suggests giving it his all because the pit stop will happen in two laps. After crossing the finish line 25 times, Charles Leclerc heads to the pits, one lap later than Lando Norris.
The tire change is not the fastest, and the Ferrari driver returns to the track on Mediums behind Gasly, whom he overtakes two laps later. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz loses the position to Lando Norris, who is too fast for him. At this stage, the two Ferrari SF-24 cars are back in fifth and sixth positions, just as they were at the end of the first lap. The main difference is the life of the tires, as Charles Leclerc’s yellow-banded Pirellis have 9 fewer laps. Despite this, Bryan Bozzi insists on not overdoing it in turn 9 to make the tires last longer.
We are once again in a stalemate where the Ferraris are trying to manage their tires. It remains to be seen how and if Charles Leclerc will be able to take advantage of the fresher compounds over the course of the race. For now, the two Mercedes car and Lando Norris’ McLaren MCL38 are ahead. Carlos Sainz is trying to catch up with Lewis Hamilton, who is glued to the Russell–Norris duo. The Ferrari Spaniard is close to his second stop, so he is asked to push. Indeed, on the next lap, number 36, he heads to the pit lane to switch to a set of Hard tires.
The Spanish driver returns to the track in eighth position behind George Russell, who, like him, has switched to white-banded Pirellis. Riccardo Adami announces that a “normal intro” is needed for these tires. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc is pushing hard, clocking times similar to the top three. The goal is to get closer to Lewis, who is going very fast despite having 8 more laps on his tires. Gradually, however, the Ferrari driver is closing the gap on his future teammate, taking advantage of the fresher tires. On this note, it should be mentioned that Charles Leclerc feels the tires are not exceptional because they tend to slide in the corners.
The next lap, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion pits and switches to a set of Soft tires with which he will finish the race. The Brit returns behind Carlos Sainz, who does everything to slow him down until he is overtaken 20 laps from the end. Carlos is on a strategy that seems slower at this point, while his Maranello teammate will finish the race with two tire changes. Bryan Bozzi asks which type of compound he prefers for his next pit stop. The stop comes on lap 48, where the mechanics mount a set of Softs on car number 16, which returns to the track in sixth position, still behind his teammate.
Bryan suggests the pace to maintain: 18.3 to fight with George Russell at the end and secure 4th place. Charles Leclerc seriously considers the advice and laps even faster than required. A strategy that is certainly not easy but undoubtedly bold and necessary to try to salvage a not-so-exciting weekend so far. Meanwhile, the Monegasque catches up to Carlos Sainz, who obviously lets him pass as he is much faster. With 7 laps to go, the Monegasque driver is about 4 seconds behind George Russell.
Charles Leclerc has 12 laps on his Softs, while George Russell has 23 on his Hards. For Carlos Sainz, the race in these final laps consists of fending off Oscar Piastri, who is trying to make up the roughly 5-second gap. With 4 laps to go before the checkered flag, the Ferrari driver in car number 16 is about to catch the Englishman in the Mercedes. The duel is tough, and George does everything to resist and ultimately succeeds. Unfortunately, one lap was missing, as the Ferrari driver crosses the finish line right behind the Englishman. Carlos Sainz follows, with an 8-second gap from his Ferrari teammate.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
