Spain failed the Azzurri and Catalonia failed the Red team. The two national teams favored by Italians come out badly from the long Iberian weekend. On the Barcelona track, the Scuderia did not find the answers it was looking for, on the contrary it saw the door closed in its face, inexorably becoming the fourth force in the championship, beaten by Red Bull, McLaren and also by Mercedes which was aiming to overtake to cling to the podium . Leclerc and Sainz, also thanks to their less than brilliant strategies, finished more than 20 points behind the winner who, for a change, was Max Verstappen. Furthermore, at Ferrari the war broke out between Leclerc (photo) and Sainz, immediately on the second lap, when Carlos attacked and overtook Charles, even touching him. «Carlos’ maneuver was not correct and it was not fair. We knew we had to save the tyres, which I did and Carlos didn’t. It damaged my front wing. We’ll talk about it. He wanted to do something special in his home race, but it wasn’t the time. It cost us a position.” Hard. Sainz responded via radio that he was in front and had done nothing wrong. «I had to attack, we had new tires. I don’t know what he’s complaining about, this time I don’t understand. I couldn’t keep up my whole life.” An additional problem for Vasseur already dealing with updates that didn’t work like those of McLaren and Mercedes.
In this victory, the 61st of his career, the seventh of the season, the third in a row in Spain, there is a lot of Max as confirmed by the over 59 taken by Sergio Perez with the other Red Bull. He now has a 69 point lead over Lando Norris which, after 10 grands prix, is the third largest gap ever. Max did everything well, his opponents messed up a bit, especially with the strategies that didn’t help Norris or even Hamilton who after 12 grands prix tasted the bubbles again (he hadn’t been on the podium since Mexico 2023). Norris, after the pole and the fastest lap, leaves with a sad face from a grand prix that he could have won.
He made a mistake at the start, when he pushed Verstappen onto the grass, leaving Russell the space to take the lead. After a bend he had fallen from first to third place with a race to rebuild while on the third lap Verstappen had already taken the lead. A missed opportunity, but at least he had more fun than the Ferrari drivers.
