Verstappen breezes to win by over 24s from Hamilton

Max Verstappen dominated Formula 1’s 2023 Spanish Grand Prix to win in front of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who ended Sergio Perez’s recovery drive at fourth place.

At the start, polesitter Verstappen swung right after leaving the line to cut off the momentum of fellow front-row starter Carlos Sainz, but the Ferrari – on soft tyres versus the mediums on the Red Bull – got a slipstream and attacked on the outside line at Turn 1.

Verstappen was therefore forced to run very deep as he defended hard from the inside line but kept enough of his car on the track to stay within the rules in what was the only moment he was under serious pressure all day.

Sainz had to check up coming through Turn 2, which slowed Hamilton behind, the Mercedes driver having dived past Lando Norris at Turn 1.

Hamilton slowing appeared to catch Norris out and they made contact, which broke the McLaren’s wing and meant he needed to pit for repairs at the end of lap one, his race ruined and eventually coming home 17th in an event where no cars failed to finish.

Verstappen scampered clear up front, escaping Sainz’s DRS threat immediately, while Lance Stroll demoted Hamilton to fourth at Turn 5 on the opening tour.

But it soon became clear that Mercedes had the best non-Red Bull pace and he hunted down and repassed the Aston on lap eight with a move on the outside line into Turn 1.

Hamilton then reached Sainz’s rear by lap 15, by which point Verstappen was seven seconds clear in the lead, and Ferrari stopped the Spaniard at this point to switch softs for mediums.

Mercedes, though, left Hamilton running for nine further laps before he came in to take the mediums too and on lap 28 the Briton used his fresher rubber to claim Sainz’s second place with an easy DRS-assisted move on the run down the main straight.

Perez had briefly run second on his rise from a shock Q2 exit as others pitted ahead, the Mexican driver putting in a series of passes at Turn 1 after not making any progress at the start.

Like Verstappen, he was started on the mediums and the Red Bull pair were serviced with a lap of each other – the 26th and 27th tours once all their rivals on the soft tyres had already come in.

The middle phase of the race became about Russell catching Sainz has Hamilton shot clear of the Ferrari and Perez’s continuing progress through the field.

Russell had survived an investigation into his driving at the opening corners, as he went through the Turn 2 escape road having been briefly going three-wide in the pack after launching past Perez…