Lewis Hamilton drove aggressively and overtook rivals, sometimes with apparent ease. George Russell gained several places by zipping up the pit lane at the start and held off a late challenge from Sergio Perez. It was a great day for Mercedes.
And they finished 2-3.
Once again, Max Verstappen of Red Bull raced away from the Formula One field in the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday, winning the pole, and then on race day never holding any position but first. His final margin was 24 seconds.
With five wins in seven races (and two seconds), he is on his way to his third straight Formula One title, barring a major shock.
Any drama had to be found further back in a race without major incidents or crashes. In addition to the showy performances by the Mercedes, Perez, Verstappen’s teammate, raced up to fourth after starting 11th thanks to a bad qualifying.
Expected rain, which might have made things interesting, never really came.
Late in the race, Verstappen was warned about straying off the course on some turns, but even had he been penalized, it would very likely have been five seconds, not nearly enough to take the race away.
As they have for weeks, his rivals and their teams will be shaking their heads and wondering how they can possibly stop him.
Where the Race Turned
When Verstappen took the pole? When he started the race without incident? When he had a problemless pit stop?
Truthfully, at no point did Verstappen ever look like he would lose this weekend.
Best Days, Ranked
1. Max Verstappen. See above.
2. Mercedes. After an iffy start to the season, and an embarrassing collision between the two drivers in qualifying Saturday, almost everything went right on race day. It was the first double-podium of the year for the team.
3. Perez. He made up for a bad qualifying by racing up to fourth.
The Week in Photos
Qualifying 101
The first rule of qualifying has to be: Don’t hit your teammate.
Drivers’ Championship Standings
Verstappen’s lead is now 53 points. Expect that to increase.
