2023 Spanish Grand Prix | 9 talking points

1. Untouchable Verstappen yet again

We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: the double champion is in a class of one just now, and in Spain he put in a cut-glass perfect performance. From pole position, he coolly kept the lead from home hero Carlos Sainz Jr at the start, then simply drove away from the rest. Red Bull started him on medium Pirellis in contrast to the rest of the soft-shod frontrunners, which gave him options on strategy. He pitted relatively late on lap 26 for the hard compound that could have taken him to the finish. But unhappy with his grip levels he had the buffer to pit again for a short stint on softs, once again without losing the lead, and finished 24 seconds up the road from next-best Lewis Hamilton.

The only blemish was a black and white flag warning for tripping the track limits, which seemed to bemuse him. In truth, had he erred again and picked up a five-second penalty it wouldn’t have made much difference, such was his advantage. But Verstappen just reined in his excesses and stroked it home for a third win on the bounce.

2. The key Verstappen stats

His fifth win out of seven races this season is the 40^th of his F1 career, leaving him just one shy of Ayrton Senna’s tally. The Spanish race marked the 26th consecutive time Verstappen has reached the chequered flag, the longest run in Red Bull’s history (surpassing Daniel Ricciardo’s 25 in a row in 2015-16). He has also passed Nigel Mansell to move into sixth on the all-time laps led list, on 2089.

And just to give some context to his team’s level of domination right now, Red Bull cars have led every lap of the last three consecutive races – and the last team to do that was Mercedes at the 2020 Tuscan, Russian and Eifel Grands Prix. We thought it likely back then the German manufacturer was hitting a benchmark no other team could match. But this is a level of superiority equal to any we’ve yet seen. The team blanches at the suggestion – but might it remain unbeaten all year?

3. Encouraging signs for Mercedes

In ‘division two’ – in other words, the rest of the grid! – there were at least promising signs for Mercedes-AMG, which appears to be back on the right track following its recent technical upgrade to the W14. Hamilton put in an accomplished drive to finish a clear second, with George Russell charging from 12^th on the grid to complete the podium for a Black Arrows 2-3. The English drivers had collided in qualifying following a “miscommunication”, but put that all behind them in a race where the revised car was clearly quickest (after Verstappen’s Red Bull).

“What a result for our team, we definitely didn't expect that today,” said Hamilton, a beacon of positivity in the wake of his performance. “Hats off to my team, a big thank you to everyone back at the factory to continue to push and bring us a bit close to the Red Bulls. They’re still a bit ahead.

“One step at a time. If we can get close to them by the end of the year, that will be awesome, if not then next year.”

4. No sweat for Russell

“Rain at Turn 5,” warned Russell mid-race. But the threat of the weather turning never materialised, George realising a few laps later that the moisture was his own sweat inside his visor! His radio messages were a sign of how upbeat the Merc drivers were feeling – “only solid?” Russell quipped after a fine DRS-assisted pass on Sainz for third.

From the sixth row on the grid, he’d made up five places on the first lap despite being forced to take the escape route at Turn 1 – for which he side-stepped a penalty. Sometimes it’s just your day.

5. Perez toils to fourth

Russell’s mood was brightened further by how comfortably he held off Sergio Perez to keep his podium. The Mexican took on soft Pirellis five laps later than Russell for a 16-lap dash to the flag, but couldn’t make much impression as the laps ran down.

‘Checo’ was in the doldrums again after a disappointing Monaco GP and only qualified 11^th in Spain. The result leaves him a chasm-like 59 points down on his team leader, with all talk of always unlikely title challenges surely now forgotten.

6. More big questions for Ferrari

Another painful weekend for Maranello. Sainz did brilliantly to qualify on the front row and bask in the Spanish limelight in front of his home crowd, but then faded badly in the race. Fifth was the best he could hope for. And what of Charles Leclerc? After a disastrous qualifying, Ferrari started him from the pitlane with a fresh gearbox with the hope that the ease of passing at this circuit thanks to the power of DRS would allow him to rise up the field.

But why did the team start him on hard tyres, then call him in early and leave him mired in traffic? He finished out of the points, in a miserable 11^th. Something has got to give at the red team, because this surely can’t go on.

7. Anti-climax for Aston Martin

This season has brought so much joy for Aston Martin and Alonso. But what has been generally the best-of-the-rest combination so far slumped in Spain, as Alonso qualified only eighth, three places behind his team-mate Lance Stroll.

The green cars finished sixth and seventh, Alonso well within range of passing Stroll in the closing stages, only to decide that discretion made sense on this occasion. The old warrior knows which way his bread is currently buttered!

8. McLaren slumps after hope

The biggest surprise from qualifying was Lando Norris sticking his McLaren on the second row, in third. He knew the race would be a struggle, but how disappointing that he should misjudge the first two corners so poorly. Norris broke his front wing against Hamilton’s Mercedes and was forced to pit. From there, he toiled to 17^th, with team-mate Oscar Piastri ahead of him in 13^th.

Another poor show from the team and its cars, in a recently introduced livery that we reckon has visual cues reminiscent of the 1994 Minardi! Probably not the look Zak Brown was going for…

9. Tsunoda penalty costs points for AlphaTauri

Esteban Ocon finished a lacklustre eighth for Alpine, after a questionable swerve in defence against Alonso, while it appeared Yuki Tsunoda had won the battle with Zhou Guanyu for ninth. But the Japanese was judged to have pushed the Chinese Alfa Romeo driver wide at Turn 1 in their duel and was docked five seconds.

That dropped the AlphaTauri to 12^th, with Zhou claiming the spot and Pierre Gasly inheriting 10^th. A single point for the Frenchman was little consolation when he’d qualified a fine fourth, only to be handed a double dose of three-place grid penalties for impeding other drivers.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images