F1: Spanish Grand Prix – live | Formula One

Tour 59/66 Nozza set fastest lap and the lead dropped to 4.739s. “Doesn’t watching Verstappen make us wonder about some successful people who somehow make their luck?” wonders David Howarth.

Absolutely. Every time Verstappen was asked a question today, he answered.

Tour 58/66 It’s truly amazing how circumstances conspired to stick Verstappen in the lead. nobody expected Russell to come out of P4 and lead through the first corner, but you get the sense that Norris really needed to stay out front and use the open road to build a lead if he was going to win here.

Tour 57/66 Norris runs out of steam here. As I write, the lead is down to under five seconds, but Verstappen is still leading and looks set to win.

Tour 56/66 Norris gains half a second but Verstappen responds by pushing; the lead is 5.161s.

Tour 55/66 Hamilton extends his lead over Russell; if his car doesn’t let him down, he’ll get to that podium. Still, it must annoy you to see it as a triumph when you win seven drivers’ championships.

Tour 54/66 In the reports, they believe Norris is pushing for one lap, then saving his tires for one lap. Verstappen leads by 5.5 seconds.

Tour 53/66 Norris continues to close the gap. We might just end up here!

Tour 52/66 Hamilton has not been on the podium in 12 races – the last time in Mexico was the last time – and he easily passed Russell to settle for third.

Tour 51/66 Hamilton is now within a second of Russell as they battle for the podium; Norris set another fastest lap as Verstappen’s lead dropped below six seconds.

Tour 50/66 Norris closes the gap to Verstappen to 6.881s and which of these cars is now faster? There’s not much to it, but there’s a good chance Norris can make a race out of it.

Tour 49/66 Russell could be told to step aside for Hamilton, within a second behind him, on the basis that he would be passed at some point, so both should save their tyres. For now, however, he is only concerned with defense.

Tour 48/66 Veratappen now leads, Norris stays ahead of Russell and this race will be decided by the battle at the front. Does Norris’ McLaren have the speed to close the gap?

Tour 47/66 Norris leads Leclerc by 12.83s, but he’s coming in at the end of this lap and the challenge will be to get him ahead of Hamilton and Russell.

Tour 46/66 Here! Russell moved up with Piastri to take fourth and Hamilton overtook Sainz.

1. Norris

2. Leclerc

3. Verstappen

4. Russell

5. Piastre

6. Hamilton

7. Sainz

Tour 45/66 Verstappen comes in and continues to the softs, so Norris has time while he does to try and build a lead. He is flying! Hamilton, meanwhile, attacked Sainz but failed to pass at turn nine; the transition seems inevitable but.

Tour 44/66 It’s crazy, isn’t it, the way everything seems to be working out for Verstappen; Hamilton enters and continues with softs used, seventh behind Sainz.

Tour 43/66 Russell, sixth, sets the fastest lap and will move through the field while the others move into the pits. He has a strong chance of a podium here, but Hamilton will be thinking the same way.

Tour 42/66 Verstappen’s lead is down to 5.638s, but the news from the back is that the hards aren’t working so well.

Tour 41/66 It is now quite cloudy overhead, but the expectations are that there will be no rain. The blind melon will be happy.

Tour 40/66 Verstappen’s lead is now 7.083s and I wonder if he will want to pit a second time before Norris so he can spend as long as possible at the front with a clear road ahead of him.

Tour 39/66 Russell, now sixth, sets the fastest lap and will move up the field as he drives into the front pit.

Tour 38/66 Norris eats into Verstappen’s lead, which is now down to a paltry 7.821s. The champion will want a solid stop coming in because this race isn’t over yet.

Tour 37/66 Russell comes in to change his mediums to hards and exits the pits in seventh place.

Tour 36/66 Verstappen won’t mind all that action behind him – he now leads by 8.809s.

Tour 35/66 Norris attacks Russell and passes, but on turn four, Russell, fighting hard, grabs second place back, only for Norris to go five again and this time he’s out! What a battle that was, but now Russell is threatened by Hamilton behind him!

Tour 34/66 The temperature has dropped by several degrees, while Verastppen’s lead has increased by several seconds. He leads Russell by 8.272 seconds.

1. Verstappen

2. Russell

3. Norris

4. Hamilton

5. Sainz

6. Leclerc

7. Piastre

8. Gasly

9. Okon

10. Hulkenberg

11. Joe

12. A walk

13. Peres

14. Alonso

15. Ricciardo

16. Alban

17. Bottas

18. Srajant

19. Tsunoda

20. Magnussen

Tour 33/66 In the reports, they noted that the main beneficiary of the first round of stops was Verstappen. As they do so, they manage to keep from laughing.

Tour 32/66 Hamilton goes for a hack on Russell but Norris is behind him and this time he doesn’t bother defending, knowing the fresher tires have too much pop for him. I’m sure Russell will have to give way soon too, but Verstappen is a long way off.

Tour 31/66 Norris gets close enough that Hamilton hugs the inside, preventing overtaking, and the gap is now just 0.508. It will happen, but it may take another lap or two.

Tour 30/66 Hamilton comes back a bit and comms wonder if he and Russell can work together to hold off Norris. So far, that’s not happening, and McLaren is closing in on them.

Tour 29/66 Max Verstappen is good at driving.

Tour 28/66 Verstappen leads by around 6.5 seconds and although Norris is doing a lap faster than him, he has a pretty old way of compensating. In between, Russell pulled away from Hamilton a bit – the old master almost had DRS, but now the gap is 1.518s.

Tour 28/66 The gap between Verstappen, leader, and Norris, fourth, is approximately 9.4s. It feels like the winner here can only be one of these two.

Tour 27/66 Norris, 0.293 seconds behind Sainz, attacked him but was unsuccessful; however, with straight up coming, you figure he’ll find a way, and shobuff is exactly what he does.

Tour 26/66 Sainz is annoyed as he feels that Hamilton did not give him enough driving space in the overtaking process; he thinks there should be a punishment, but the officials don’t.

1. Verstappen

2. Russell

3. Hamilton

4. Sainz

5. Norris

6. Gasly

7. Leclerc

Tour 25/66 In comes Leclerc so every driver is now in the pits and Max Verstappen is leading. Of course he does.

Tour 24/66 In comes Norris, the braking is good and he comes out behind Sainz in sixth. So we have a new leader: Charles Leclerc, the only man who has yet to see combat. When he comes in, Veratappen will have a decent lead.

Tour 23/66 Verstappen only laps 6/10s of a second faster than Norris, so it could be a proper race (or not). Further back, Alonso passed Magnussen to reach the lofty heights of 15th.

Tour 22/66 Piastri comes in as Norris builds his lead to 5.433s and Verstappen looks to close in on Leclerc, with the gap between them around 2.2s.

Tour 21/66 In communications, they wonder if Nozza night follows a one-stop strategy and switches to difficulty when it enters; conviction is unlikely. Verstappen moved in between, ahead of Piastri to take third. He is about 14 seconds off the lead.

Tour 20/66 Hamilton sets fastest lap as Norris builds his lead, now 4.869s. He will pit at some point, but might he be able to extend his lead enough to keep some of it?

Tour 19/66 Sainz forces Hamilton to the edge as he takes the inside line, but Hamilton hangs in there to pass! The faster car cannot be denied!

1. Norris

2. Leclerc

3. Piastre

4. Verstappen

5. Russell

6. Hamilton

7. Sainz

Tour 18/66 Hamilton is attacking Sainz – he seems to have the better pace – but can’t get past for now. Meanwhile, Verstappen is in and out in very little time, ending up in P4, Norris now the leader.

Tour 17/66 Hamilton pits so Piastri is now fourth – he’ll take that – while Stroll exits fifth and the aforementioned Mers exits behind the Aston Martin.

Tour 16/66 Russell comes in, so a chance for Norris to close the gap on Verstappen; Sainz comes in too and his stop is three seconds quicker so they go into a duel. Sainz can’t get close enough to try to overtake.

Tour 15/66 Gas pits, Ocon too; both to the mediums, but the former’s suspension fails, meaning he exits in 13th place. Meanwhile, Magnussen received a five-second penalty for an infringement that I missed.

Tour 14/66 Verstappen expected a tough race; so far this has not been his experience. He’s in a league of his own right now.

Tour 13/66 Veratappen’s lead is now over three seconds, while Russell is still around a second ahead of Norris.

Tour 12/66 Verstappen continues to build his lead.

Tour 11/66 However, Russell is falling further behind Verstappen, allowing the top champion to slip away – there are cars behind that could do a better job of chasing him down, and the Ferraris are closing in on Hamilton in fourth, but at least for now, now one can reach the leader.