The F1 circus continues the seemingly never-ending yo-yo across the continents to land back in Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix, a race won by Max Verstappen without too much trouble. Talking of yo-yos, here is our 2024 Spanish F1 Grand Prix Result Summary which covers both races and anything else of interest.
This 2024 Spanish Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
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2024 Spanish GP Preview
Our 2024 F1 Calendar & Results
Our 2023 Full Season Reviews
2024 Spanish F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – So the 2024 season continues to evolve and qualifying is no longer the domain of Max Verstappen as Lando Norris pips the Red Bull for pole position. McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri may well have been a threat too but slid wide on the second last corner of his last lap and starts 9th. Mercedes put behind them sabotage claims over Lewis Hamilton to qualify 3rd and 4th with the sabotagee ahead of George Russell. The next two rows are a bit of a surprise with Ferrari slightly off the pace and the Alpines now surprisingly quick in 7th and 8th. Sergio Perez continues to underwhelm qualifying 8th but dropping to 11th after receiving a penalty from the Canadian GP for driving his busted car back to the pits. Talking of the pits and underwhelming the latest upgrade for the RB team has seen them plummet to the second slowest car with Daniel Ricciardo 18th, one place behind Yuki Tsunoda. We figure that means it’s Ricciardo 1 Villeneuve 1 now.
It’s a long drag down to the first corner, and there is usually one or two cars eliminated on the first lap. Stand by for who. Or who else other than Lance Stroll. Race day weather is hot and windy. Who will that favour? We will find out soon.
GRID (Starting Order) – NOR VER HAM RUS LEC SAI GAS OCO PIA ALO
Lap 1 – Lando Norris makes a good start from pole position, Max Verstappen makes a better start, and George Russell makes the best start and sweeps through on the outside to take first. Lando Norris drops to third, his team mate is up to 8th with Nico Hulkenberg the big mover and up three places. All the drivers make it through the first lap without issue. Amazing start and first corner move from George Russell though, from fourth on the grid. Replays show the Mercedes driver took advantage of Norris pushing Verstappen onto the grass which cost them both, one only temporarily.
ORDER – RUS VER NOR HAM LEC SAI GAS PIA OCO HUL
Lap 3 – Red Bull come over the radio and advise Max Verstappen that the best time might be now to overtake George Russell and Verstappen duly obliges by passing the Mercedes into turn one at the start of lap 3 and half a lap later he’s already more than a second ahead. Well, this could be a boring race.
Lap 4 – Carlos Sainz overtakes Charles Leclerc, which appears to make Leclerc a little unhappy as they were close to touching. Sainz is also unhappy for the same reason. Maybe we’ll see some Ferrari intra-team hate.
ORDER – VER RUS NOR HAM SAI LEC GAS PIA OCO HUL
Lap 7 – In back of the grid news Guanyu Zhou overtakes Yuki Tsunoda for 16th, making the RBs the second worst car of the race as well as qualifying. Further ahead Fernando Alonso is 14th in his home race, after losing out at the start. A little further ahead of that is Sergio Perez making little impression in 11th. The midweek news that Perez’s contract is not two seasons but a one season plus an option for the team for the second makes more sense. Or more sense than giving two seasons. And less sense at re-signing him at all.
Lap 10 – Max Verstappen is 2.5 seconds ahead of George Russell and looking ominously confident. Behind that McLarens are beginning to pressure the cars in front with Lando Norris on Russell’s tail and Oscar Piastri glued to the Alpine rear of Pierre Gasly. Meanwhile the pitstops have been with Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda and Guanyu Zhou.
Lap 12 – Sergio Perez overtakes Nico Hulkenberg for 10th. And secures himself a Championship point. For now. He pits on lap 14 and drops to 15th.
ORDER – VER RUS NOR HAM SAI LEC GAS PIA OCO PER
Lap 15 – Kevin Magnussen gets a five second penalty for a false start, which will result in a zero net effect on his point scoring today.
Lap 16 – George Russell and Carlos Sainz pit for tyres. The Ferrari pit work is three seconds faster and the cars exit the pit lane almost side by side. Mercedes have thrown away some advantage of the early stop and undercut. Lewis Hamilton pits a lap later and ends up behind Sainz.
Lap 18 – Max Verstappen pits, Lando Norris takes the lead for the first time in this race. No worries on the Red Bull pitstop, it’s quick and he exits fourth behind Oscar Piastri. Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz are arguing over 6th and almost touch. The Mercedes gets past the Ferrari into turns one and two on lap 19 but Sainz claims there was a touch and Hamilton runs him wide. Sainz would know about both. Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc is the other front runner not to pit yet with the McLarens. A pit stop will cost Lando Norris 22 seconds and drop him to seventh, so a one-stopper may be on the cards now for both McLarens.
ORDER – NOR LEC PIA VER RUS HAM SAI GAS OCO PER
Lap 22 – Max Verstappen breezes by Oscar Piastri who must take offence as he pits at the end of the lap and drops behind Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg and lands 11th. Which is upgraded to 10th when he easily passes the Hulk.
Lap 23 – Lando Norris pits at the end of lap 23 and comes out behind Carlos Sainz. Temporary leader Charles Leclerc thinks that is a decent idea and pits a lap later and splits the Alpines on his return. That means all drivers have now pit and all drivers that started are still in the race.
ORDER – VER RUS HAM SAI NOR GAS LEC OCO PER PIA
Lap 26 – Lando Norris is showing some race pace now, setting fastest lap/s and breezing past Carlos Sainz and closing overall to Max Verstappen. Norris thinks he can win, and who are we to argue about that from our lounge at quarter to midnight. In other fast McLaren news Oscar Piastry rises to 9th after passing Sergio Perez into turn one. And gets Ocon a few laps later. If McLaren go longer on this second stint it could be an exciting finish.
Lap 32 – Lando Norris overtakes Lewis Hamilton for third place without a hint of sabotage. George Russell is only just up the road too. Piastri passes Gasly for 7th a few laps later. McLarens are on the move.
ORDER – VER RUS NOR HAM SAI LEC PIA GAS OCO HUL
Lap 35 – It’s a ding dong battle between Norris and Russell. Norris goes around the outside of Russell around the outside of turn three only for Russell to sneak back around the outside of the next corner which leads to the inside of the next. But Lando Norris settles the argument for good up the inside of turn six after that and keeps the position by the end of the lap. George Russell pits a lap later with Carlos Sainz.
Lap 42 – Back markers now in the way of the leaders which adds a potential another level to this race. Down the field a lot of the upper/lower midfield and below are making the second stops.
ORDER – VER NOR HAM LEC PIA RUS SAI PER GAS ALO
Lap 44 – Lewis Hamilton puts on a new set of softs for the last stint. As does Max Verstappen a lap later. They end up 7th and third respectively. This gives Lando Norris his chance and he starts flying. As do Russell and Verstappen as the fastest laps are recorded.
Lap 47 – Piastri pits and drop from 5th to 8th. More importantly Lando Norris pits from the lead and drops to second just in front of George Russell as they go through the first corner. So 18 laps to go and we have the stage set for Norris to chase Verstappen for the win.
ORDER – VER NOR RUS HAM SAI LEC PER PIA GAS OCO
Lap 51 – Lando Norris is six seconds behind Max Verstappen but eight tenths quicker on the lap. A big finish is coming. George Russell is struggling on his hard tyres and Lewis Hamilton overtakes him after spending a few laps on his tail to take third place.
Lap 55 – The Norris to Verstappen gap has stabilised and it looks like there won’t be a grandstand finish. Searching for other action, the Ferraris are getting close and Sergio Perez made a third pitstop to overtake some midfield cars. Charles Leclerc eventually gets in front of Carlos Sainz and chases George Russell.
Lap 58 – Hold the phone, if you were holding one, Lando Norris sets fastest lap and has cut the lead to Verstappen to under five seconds (4.7).
Lap 61 – Five laps to go and the lead is 4.3 seconds. So close and coming down but not quick enough.
Lap 65 – The Norris-Verstappen gap is down to 2.7 seconds so there’s still hope, but maybe Max is playing.
FINAL LAP – Norris gets into No Cigar territory and Max Verstappen holds on for victory. Lewis Hamilton gets some 2024 joy with a podium at a track he’s dominated in the past. Charles Leclerc pressures George Russell but falls short. Sergio Perez steals 8th place from Pierre Gasly on the final lap.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER NOR HAM RUS LEC SAI PIA PER GAS OCO
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS
Takes his second pole position with a lap he describes as a piece of art. Loses his lead at the start but an alternative strategy keeps him at the front of the battle for most of the race. His late race charges are becoming something to look forward to on race day. Norris is a bit like a modern day Nigel Mansell, without all the moaning. And tremendous moustache. He looks clearly the next best behind Max this season, and more race wins are coming.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
MAX VERSTAPPEN – Has to settle for just a win and not a win from pole. He was trumped at the start by George Russell but didn’t take long to assert his authority and sail off into the distance.
ALPINES – Have gone from slowest car in the field to solid point scoring machines. Not many points as they aren’t that fast but at least they are scoring and not running into each other.
LEWIS HAMILTON – Appears to overcome sabotage by beating his team mate on race day and secure the final podium.
THE GRAPE-EST – FERNANDO ALONSO
Missed Q3 at his home race. Pushed wide at the first corner and needs to take the escape lane. Spends most of his afternoon in the non-points section of the midfield, and behind Lance Stroll.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
WILLIAMS – The slowest car for a lot of the weekend, and Alex Albon was barely faster than Logan Sargeant. And he runs wide trying to overtake Yuki Tsunoda late in the race ruining any potential joy for him and the team.
RB – New upgrades have had a negative effect and the RBs were the second worst car for most of the weekend. At least the lack of speed can’t be blamed on Daniel Ricciardo as both drivers are slow. Although the Australian goes on a bit of a run of overtaking towards the end, but 15th isn’t where they want to be.
SERGIO PEREZ – Almost a permanent fixture in our disappointments. Misses Q3 and hangs around the upper midfield for most of the race. A bit of a waste of the best car really.
FERRARI – Not a great race day or qualifying. Hard to think this was a car dominating Monaco not so long ago.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
ON TRACK ACTION – 7 / 10
A decent amount of overtaking and tyre strategy to keep one interested throughout, despite Max Verstappen being a little hard to catch in front.
ANY SURPRISES? – 2 / 5
The Red Bull still won is no surprise, but George Russell’s start certainly was, and was the Alpine’s improvement in pace.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5
Another win to Max Verstappen isn’t important, but the pace of the McLaren and in particular Lando Norris is. Norris took pole and was the second fastest on track during the race, so if he can win some of the next few races it may put some Championship pressure on Max Verstappen.
ENDING 6 / 10
Lando Norris’ pursuit of Max Verstappen gives enough laps plenty of interest. But it always seemed inevitable that the Red Bull would hang on.
OVERALL RATING 19 / 30
Not bad for a Spanish Grand Prix really.
2024 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Why not check the latest race ratings – 2024 Monaco Grand Prix Ratings
Or check out our 2023 Season Driver Rankings and Stats
