As expected, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led start-to-finish in winning the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix in a snoozefest while Mercedes’ seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton was a distant second ahead of his Mercedes teammate, George Russell.
Verstappen was the pole-sitter and never fell out of first place – even during the pit crossovers – as all the little drama there was, occurred behind him. On the race start, McLaren’s Lando Norris, starting in third was passed by Hamilton and then Norris hit Hamilton from behind, incurring front wing damage for Norris, which put him in the pit on the second lap and effectively knocked him out of the race and also allowing Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll to temporarily pass Hamilton.
From there, the top four of Verstappen, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Jr., Stroll and Hamilton did not change until the eighth lap when Hamilton passed Stroll and then passed Sainz, Jr. on Lap 16 when Sainz, Jr. went into pit. After the usual pit crossovers shuffled the order behind Verstappen by Lap 29, the eventual 1-2 of Verstappen and Hamilton did not change for the remainder of the race. Russell emerged for the third and final podium position on Lap 51 and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who started 11th, was unable to catch him in the race’s final laps.
With the victory, Verstappen extends his commanding lead in the 2023 Formula 1 driver’s standings with 170 points to 117 for Perez, followed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso with 99, Hamilton with 87, Russel with 65, Sainz, Jr. with 58 and Sainz, Jr.’s Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc with 42.
2023 Spanish Grand Prix Top 10 Finishers
1] Max Verstappen Red Bull
2] Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
3] George Russell Mercedes
4] Sergio Pérez Red Bull
5] Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari
6] Lance Stroll Aston Martin
7] Fernando Alonso Aston Martin
8] Esteban Ocon Alpine
9] G.Y. Zhou Alfa Romeo
10] Pierre Gasly Alpine