In the World Championship standings, Verstappen took the lead from Ferrari frontman Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque was eliminated as the leader before half the race distance.
With 110 points, the Dutchman is now six points ahead of Leclerc, who awaits his home race in Monte Carlo next week. “In the end I’m very happy to have won,” said Verstappen after his 24th Grand Prix success and his fourth victory this year. “Thanks to ‘Checo’, he’s a great teammate,” he said to Perez. The Mexican beamed after his first podium finish in Montmelo. “It’s a good result for the team,” he said succinctly. “We’ll talk about that later,” he had radioed to his pits earlier.
On the 27th lap, Leclerc lost power for initially unknown reasons and had to go to the pit lane, where the Ferrari crew rolled the car into the interior. Later, the Scuderia spoke of a problem with the drive unit. “There were no signs. I suddenly lost power,” explained the 24-year-old. “It’s just a shame. We had the race under control, the car was fantastic.”
Verstappen escapes via DRS
Leclerc had looked like the programmed winner up until then. After a spin on the ninth lap, Verstappen was stuck behind Russell’s Mercedes for a long time and had problems with the DRS, which could not be opened properly.
“We can’t even get the damn DRS to work. Unbelievable!” Scolded the world champion in the car, while Leclerc circled unmolested in the front. Russell fended off Verstappen’s attempts to overtake brilliantly. After Leclerc’s retirement, Verstappen changed strategy and picked up new tires for the second time. The duel for the lead was now Russell versus Perez. On lap 31, Perez passed the Brit at the end of the start/finish straight, who later also had new tires fitted.
After another change to medium rollers, Verstappen came back on the track just behind Perez. The Mexican was told over the radio not to defend himself against his team-mate. In the 49th lap, the stable order was completed, Verstappen took the lead. Perez then got fresh soft tires for the hunt for the fastest lap, since his second place was no longer in danger.
Hamilton fifth after catching up
Fourth place went to local hero Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari, who, like Verstappen, had spun and was temporarily outside the top ten. Fifth was Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes after catching up almost from the back. The seven-time world champion had to pit for new tires on the first lap after an impetuous action by Kevin Magnussen in the fourth corner. Haas pilot Magnussen got away with no penalty. Due to a defective cooling system, Hamilton was no longer able to attack and had to let Sainz pass.
Valtteri Bottas was happy with sixth place in the Alfa Romeo, followed by Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine), Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren), Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine) and Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri). Mick Schumacher (14th) in the Haas again had no points, although the German was in sixth place after the start.
Source: Nachrichten
