The domination of Red Bull at the beginning of the season clearly came to an end, with four different teams now having a legitimate chance of winning a Grand Prix in recent months.
During the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, McLaren seemed to be the main competitor to the Milton Keynes-based team. Lando Norris managed to secure pole position from Verstappen in Qualifying by just two hundredths of a second. Many expected Norris to maintain his position and secure his second victory of the year.
However, Norris stumbled at the start of the race, allowing Verstappen to overtake him at the first corner. Mercedes’ George Russell also managed to pass both of them and held the lead for two laps before Verstappen used DRS to overtake him on the main straight.
From that point on, Verstappen never looked back, maintaining control of the race and winning his 61st Grand Prix, despite a strong challenge from Norris towards the end.
Similar to the Canadian Grand Prix, Verstappen managed to win even without having the fastest car on the track, as evidenced by his teammate Sergio Perez finishing in eighth place. Verstappen acknowledges that changes need to be made to his Red Bull RB20 if he wants to stay ahead in the Drivers’ Championship.
In an interview with Sky Sports F1 after the race, Verstappen expressed his satisfaction with his performance: “I’m very happy. Taking the lead on the second lap was crucial for my race. That’s where we won.”
“McLaren was faster today, which is a bit concerning. That’s not what you want to see. We need more performance because we’re not the fastest at the moment… but we executed well and maximized what we had.”
“But you can’t rely on that all the time. To win races, you need to consistently be the fastest, and that has been lacking,” Verstappen added.
Perez echoed Verstappen’s sentiments about McLaren. The Mexican driver couldn’t catch up to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, but managed to climb three positions from his starting position using a three-stop strategy.
“The main problem was our starting position. The first stint was really difficult and compromised our race. In the end, we had to switch to a three-stop strategy.”
“McLaren is currently the strongest team, so I hope we can be more competitive on different tracks.”
Red Bull will seek to regain their advantage at the Austrian Grand Prix, which is considered a home race for them as it takes place at the Red Bull Ring. The race is scheduled to start at 14:00 BST (15:00 local time) on Sunday, June 30th.
