Christian Horner: "Max drove a brilliant race today, and strategically we got it just right. The first lap was crucial with the start being one element of it, but Max also needed to overtake the Mercedes at the right moment and then quickly get the tyres under control which is very difficult under pressure. Checo was on a three stop strategy today and he executed a tricky race with good overtakes to secure points, so should take some confidence away from the weekend. It was a very exciting race with hard, fair racing and small margins. McLaren are doing a great job, Ferrari aren't far away and Mercedes have made progress as well, but we're just keeping our nose ahead and it's important that we keep pushing because there are still a lot more races to go."
Lewis Hamilton finished third and George Russell fourth in this afternoon's Spanish Grand Prix. The team locked out the second row and at the start, George vaulted into the lead with a superb around-the-outside move.
The Red Bull of Verstappen pushed hard in the early stages and took the lead before George pitted from P2 on lap 15 for the Medium tyre.
Lewis extended his first stint, something that would enable him to take the Soft tyre at his final stop as opposed to the Hard compound that George and Carlos Sainz would have to use. The pace of Lando Norris in the McLaren ultimately enabled him to leapfrog our duo, but it was a race for the final podium spot with the Ferraris that occupied the team's attention. George covered Sainz at his final stop whilst both Lewis and Leclerc went long once again.
Emerging behind both George and Sainz, Lewis used the Soft compound and fresher rubber to move up to P3 and take his first Grand Prix podium of the season. George meanwhile managed his final stint on the Hard compound well to take P4 at the flag. That capped another solid weekend for the team as we look forward to the second race of the triple-header in Austria next week.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: We can take a lot of positives away from today. We have taken several steps forward in the previous few races and it is good to see these confirmed here in Spain. We are not quite there yet, and we have to more to do to catch those ahead. Nevertheless, we are on a positive development trajectory, and it feels good to be back in the game.
It was also fantastic to pull off two of the best overtakes I've seen in a long time. George made a mega start and braked late to take the lead. Lewis's overtake on Sainz meanwhile was great racing and an important moment for his race. It's been a while since we've been able to enjoy a Grand Prix podium with Lewis, so it was fantastic to see him up there. We're now looking forward to the next two races in the triple-header and building on the momentum we are establishing.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: It's been a solid weekend from the drivers and the whole team. We felt like we could have been closer to pole than we were yesterday, but ultimately, we didn't have enough pace to challenge Max (Verstappen) and Lando (Norris) today. Nevertheless, it was good to get on the podium with Lewis. With George just behind in fourth, that completed a decent points haul for us.
George had a great start and made a very impressive move on the brakes around the outside iunto turn one. Lewis's start wasn't quite as good, but he did a good job to recover around turns one and two to get back to fourth. It was evident fairly on that we were having to push pretty hard to not fall back from Verstappen and that meant we had to make our pit stops a little earlier than planned. By the time we got into the second stint, our focus was on ensuring we beat the Ferraris. Lewis was able to do that comfortably in the end and managed his tyres well in the final stint to do the same. We're encouraged by the fact the car has worked well at Montreal and here in Barcelona. We need to find more speed to get right to the front but we are working hard on that and should be able to continue to close that gap with further developments to come.
The Spanish Grand Prix was not particularly rewarding for Scuderia Ferrari HP. Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and the team tried to move up the order, adopting different strategies in terms of the tyre choices, but it wasn't enough to move forward from the fifth and sixth places they had occupied on the grid. The team leaves Barcelona with a further 18 points, still second in the Constructors' championship, aware that it needs to make progress in qualifying in order to start further up the grid, given that the gaps between the front runners are very close, which means it's hard to overtake and gain places on Sunday.
Charles and Carlos started on new Soft tyres, hoping to have the edge over the Mercedes who started on used ones, but off the line they were unable to get ahead, running fifth and sixth, even if the Spaniard soon got ahead of his team-mate. Sainz was the first of the Ferraris to pit, switching to Medium tyres on lap 15, while Leclerc stayed out, running an acceptable pace up until lap 21. At the second stop, the teams therefore split the strategies: Carlos came in on lap 36 fitting a set of new Hards, while once again, Charles prolonged his stint which meant he could risk running a set of Softs to the end of the race. Sainz therefore let Leclerc past on lap 55, the Monegasque then setting off in pursuit of George Russell, to try and snatch fourth place. He caught up with the Mercedes driver on the last lap, but it was too late to try an overtaking move, which would have been on the cards if only the race had been one lap longer.
In the coming days, all the data from this event will be analysed so that the team can prepare for next weekend's second race in this triple-header, the Austrian Grand Prix at the Spielberg circuit, which also sees the return of the Sprint format.
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: We started five and six and ended five and six and the conclusion I draw from this is that we must do a better job in qualifying. We need to make a small step forward so that we don't start behind, as this pushes you into taking risks with the strategy. Yesterday the gap to those in front was about two tenths, today it was similar and if you look at it over the race distance then that was still the same gap.
As for the contact between our drivers, it was very light and I don't think it cost us anything. What cost us more is that after our stops, we came out behind some cars, it was very tight and we lost two or three seconds. With Carlos we wanted to cover Russell, which is why we had to go Medium-Hard as we pitted earlier. With Charles the plan was to extend the stint to go a bit longer which is why we were able to try the Softs.
With such small gaps between the teams, everything can change: there are four teams in two to two and a half tenths so from track to track the pecking order can change. Next week we race in Austria where we will have another Sprint and I expect the track layout there will suit us better.
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "When you start from pole position gained on merit, it's always a little disappointing not being able to convert it into a race win, but actually, the race today was decided by some details, in particular the fact that we couldn't keep the first position at the first corner. But Lando was careful, and there was not much we could do with Russell gaining through the slipstream and Verstappen having the inside into corner one.
"From there, we lost a bit of time in the first stint, but actually, thanks to the strong pace of the car and a very good strategy, we recovered most of this time, and we were close to Max once again at the end of the race. On Oscar's side, it's good that we could recover some of the positions and score important points for the team in our quest in the Championship.
"I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the teams, the FIA, F1 and the local services that showed a great sense of support and gave their assistance when we lost access to the Team Hub during the race weekend. That was very much appreciated and showed a strong sense of community, which I would like to applaud and remark."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "A frustrating weekend for the team but not an entirely unexpected one. It was a race to forget at a track which exposed our known weaknesses. We understand the areas to remedy but we must be patient as they won't come overnight. Lance and Fernando did the best with what we gave them today. I would like to thank the fans support we've had this week and rest assured we are working hard to bring more performance."
Esteban started from P8 on Used Softs, finished P10: Pit Stops on Lap 13 for New Mediums, Lap 37 for New Hards. Fastest Lap: 1min 18.982secs. Pierre started from P7 on Used Softs, finished P9: Pit Stops on Lap 14 for New Mediums, Lap 38 for New Hards. Fastest Lap: 1min 19.045secs.
Bruno Famin, Team Principal: "It's pleasing to have again both cars in the points here in Spain and to score at the last three Grands Prix as a team. It's a positive trend, which we must keep continuing. We were better at this track and we must analyse the reasons why in order to keep improving our overall package. The race was a tough two-stop for both cars. The two drivers did a good job, especially in tyre, energy, and fuel management. Next up is the Sprint weekend in Austria where we aim to continue our positive run inside the points."
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director: We had a very difficult afternoon as we lacked the pace to be able to fight for a good finish. We will work hard to understand why we lacked pace as some of the Free Practice sessions showed signs of improvement in comparison to last year. The track was hotter than anticipated and the wind played a part in our low performance.
From tomorrow onwards, we will be turning our focus towards Spielberg as it should be a track that suits us better. It's very tight in the midfield and every point counts, so we'll have to be on top of our game in every race until the end of the year.
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "With the qualifying positions we had, we knew that it would be difficult to score points and we needed to be ready to try something different if the race provided the opportunity, but unfortunately it did not. Daniel's pace and degradation on the medium compound in his middle stint was reasonable and he was able to close on the group of cars ahead including Alonso, Stroll and Bottas. However, some blue flags immediately after his second stop cost him some time and he lost touch with this group for a while. Although his pace was comparable, we could not get back onto this pack. Yuki was not happy with the balance of his car and although the guys worked hard to try and improve this via tools and flap adjustments, it was still difficult. We need to have a good look over the car when it's out of Parc fermé and see if we can find anything obvious. Looking at the bigger picture from this weekend, we have a lot of analysis to complete ahead of Austria next weekend in order to understand in more detail why we have underperformed here in Barcelona relative to our expectations and our general level of performance up to this point in the season. We'll then apply this learning to our preparations for Austria."
Laurent Mekies (Team Principal): "We came here with high hopes for the upgrades that everyone back in the factory has worked so hard to design and produce as part of our aggressive development strategy. Unfortunately, right from the start of Free Practice we were lacking pace in every session. There is no point denying this was a poor weekend for us and although the gaps were very small, we're not going to make excuses for the fact we just weren't competitive. Given our starting positions, it would have required some unusual circumstances - rain, a safety car - but the race was pretty linear and while both drivers did their best, we leave Spain with nothing to show for our efforts.
"Looking at the positives, we did a lot of tests across both cars to acquire as much data as possible. Now, our whole group faces a stern test to try and make some progress in the very few days available until we are back on track at the Red Bull Ring. It's a very long season, so there are bound to be some tough weekends. We just have to put this one behind us, we must not get downhearted but instead, look ahead and focus on fighting back immediately in a few days' time in Austria."
KICK Sauber F1 Team fought fiercely in the Spanish Grand Prix, with Zhou Guanyu pushing to 13th place and Valtteri Bottas crossing the line 16th. Both drivers had solid races after a weekend of progress, with a much improved qualifying performance yesterday that allowed the team to be in the mix for the positions just outside the points.
The impetus of this step forward will need to be harnessed to create the momentum necessary to push into the top ten as the team heads to the next events in this summer triple-header, with the Austrian Grand Prix next weekend and Silverstone in two weeks.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "Today's conditions were a bit of a challenge for all competitors, as the track conditions changed dramatically from Friday, making all references on race simulations moot. Tyre degradation remained a question mark and this created some interesting scenarios for the strategy: we tried our best to support our drivers and allow them to make up ground with two different plans, swapping their places to give them the best fighting chance. However, Valtteri's second stint on softs saw more degradation than we expected, which meant we had to call him in for an earlier stop, and that made his final stint on hard tyres too long, his race pace on those tyres not allowing him to challenge those on mediums. Zhou, starting in 15th, executed a very good race, and was lapping strongly until the end of the day, even though Alonso turned out too hard to keep behind. We felt we made a step forward in qualifying, but there's still something to find on Sunday to be as competitive as we need to be to score points, even in a race with no retirements, Safety Cars or anything that reshuffles the pack. Of course, we finished ahead of Williams and RB, but this cannot be our objective: being in the top ten is. We need to keep improving in all fields from Austria already, as there will be opportunities to be taken, and we need to be the ones doing that."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished with Nico Hulkenberg 11th, and Kevin Magnussen 17th, at the Spanish Grand Prix, Round 10 of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Hulkenberg took the start from 13th position on Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires and made up three places to hold a spot inside the top 10, before ceding a spot in the first stint to the recovering Red Bull of Sergio Perez. Hulkenberg stopped for Yellow medium tires on lap 12 before taking on White hard tires at his second stop on lap 38. Hulkenberg maintained 11th through the closing stint and held a sufficient advantage over the chasing pack to negate the effect of a five-second time penalty for pit speeding.
Magnussen started from 16th place on soft tires and preserved his position through the course of the opening lap, before coming in to pit on lap 10 for medium tires. Magnussen was subsequently judged to have undertaken a false start and was issued a five-second time penalty, which was served at his second stop on lap 30 - where he took on hard tires. Magnussen emerged at the rear of the 20-car field but worked his way up to 17th at the checkered flag.
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "Overall, I think in terms of performance there's lots of positives, and I think we raced stronger than I anticipated. Of course, P11 is kind of the worst place to finish, just being outside of the points, so that's pretty frustrating. Nico had a good start and Nico's pace in the first stint was strong - he stayed in front of the Red Bull - so that was good. On the second stint with the medium tire, neither driver was happy, but again Nico's pace was pretty decent, but on the last stint he was on the hard unfortunately because he had a five-second time penalty for speeding. We knew we had to push to catch Ocon, and then create a five-second gap, and that's not great for tires. Considering all of that, he raced very well and showed the performance of the car - decent but just not good enough. From Kevin's side, because of his starting position, he lost a lot of time in traffic and then when the tire is on the edge, especially in that second stint, and you get overtaken, it's very difficult. Kevin's third stint was mainly spent in traffic also, and he couldn't maximize the potential of the car."
Max Verstappen stamped his authority yet again on this the tenth round of the season. The Red Bull driver secured a significant win in the Spanish Grand Prix, built on the back of some wheel to wheel duels at the start, first with Lando Norris and then with George Russell. The Dutchman did a great job of managing the tyres over the course of the race. In fact, the podium featured the top three drivers on the starting grid. Norris tried a different strategy to Verstappen having been passed at the start, then lengthening his first two stints (eight laps later on the Soft and four later with the Medium) to try and catch the leader in the closing stages on theoretically fresher Soft tyres. However, it's worth noting that Max used his set of new C3s for the final stint, whereas Norris had used his at the start.
Lewis Hamilton was third, back on the podium for the first time since last year's Mexican Grand Prix. It means that, every year since his debut in 2007, for 18 consecutive seasons, the seven times world champion has managed to finish in the top three at least once.
This was Verstappen's 61st win the fourth at this track, where eight years ago he took his maiden Formula 1 victory. For Red Bull, it is win number 120, the seventh from ten races this season and those numbers mean the Dutchman is responsible for just over half the team's total number of wins.
There were no retirements this afternoon, with 11 of the 20 drivers going the full distance, while nine were lapped. All 19 drivers on the grid started on the Soft C3, while Albon who had to start from the pit lane in his Williams went for the C2. The pit stops began as early as lap 9 with Tsunoda, but the leaders waited until lap 15 (Sainz and Russell) to switch to Mediums, with Norris and Leclerc lengthening their stints as much as possible, to lap 23 for the former and 24 for the latter. For the third stint, the Hard also came into play, used by most of the drivers. However, among the leaders, the Soft held sway for the final part of the race, chosen by Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc and the McLaren pair. Only Sainz and Russell opted for the Hard.
Just two drivers, Perez and Tsunoda, made three stops, while 12 used all three available compounds: apart from the two already mentioned, the only drivers who did not were Perez, Albon and Bottas. The Finn actually ran the longest stint, doing 37 laps on the Hard, while Zhou topped the list for Medium stints doing 32 laps, and Leclerc managed 24 on the Soft.
Mario Isola: "It was a very intense and at times spectacular race and here I'm thinking of Russell's incredible start, similar to Alonso's from 2011, and the duels between the aforementioned George, first with Max and then with Lando. The race among the leaders was like a game of chess between the four teams who filled the top eight places, with the moves made up of strategy choices and tyre management. However, from our side it was actually a very linear race. All three compounds performed as expected, both in terms of wear and degradation, despite the fact temperatures were significantly higher than was predicted yesterday. The same can be said for the strategies, when it came to tyre usage and the pit stop windows. Soft and Medium delivered the best performance, while despite the higher temperatures, the Hard struggled a bit in terms of overall performance, while not offering a decisive advantage when it came to degradation."
