Verstappen Holds Off Charging Norris To Claim Seventh Win Of The Season in Spain.

Max Verstappen passed George Russell on the third lap of the race on route to a comfortable win at the Spanish Grand Prix, his seventh of the season.

Verstappen passed pole sitter Lando Norris into Turn One but watched Mercedes driver Russell sweep around the outside of both of them.

Any doubts about Red Bull’s race pace at the Circuit de Catalunya quickly disappeared as Verstappen reeled in Russell and moved into the lead with a tidy overtake of his own.

Russell would eventually drop down the order, with Norris spending most of the race tantalizingly close to making it a straight fight for victory with Verstappen.

“We made some good set up changes going into qualifying and the car was a lot better,” said Verstappen. “I think we really maximized that and the car felt more connected and nice to drive. We were strong into the high speed and I felt really comfortable there and the high speed corners were really quick. We have had a clean weekend and have been fine tuning the car throughout the week. During the practice session I felt like we were not the quickest out there but qualifying felt really good. McLaren were quick the whole weekend and we have been a little bit behind them, so we need to look at what we can do to optimize the performance tomorrow and be more competitive. Looking to tomorrow, I think it will be very tight; it will be about how we approach the tires, especially with the high degradation. It will be a close and exciting race tomorrow. We need to analyze a few things but qualifying has been good so we can aim to fight for the win.”

The McLaren driver appeared to be the fastest man on track for much of the race but his slow start, the early laps he spent behind Russell’s Mercedes and a sluggish final pit stop all combined to dent his chances of winning the race.

“Should have won,” Norris said on the radio after the race. “I f—– the start. Deserved more”.

He would finish the race 2.2 seconds seconds behind Verstappen, who’s win opened up his championship lead to 69 points, but Norris’s result sees him move to second in the championship.

“We definitely weren’t the quickest out there today, but we did what we had to,” Verstappen said on the radio after finishing.

Norris, who had claimed his second career pole position on Saturday, appeared focused solely on adding to his Miami Grand Prix victory from the start of May.

The Englishman resisted McLaren’s more conservative strategy suggestions about covering off the threat of the Mercedes drivers behind him.

“I think we need to go get Max,” he said over the radio at one point, before asking “depends if we want to finish third or first” in response to a question about whether he could repass Lewis Hamilton on track if needed to.

As it turned out, Verstappen was too far down the road, but Norris and McLaren can at least take comfort from how competitive a package they have once again.

Norris reiterated his disappointment afterwards: “I got a bad start, it’s as simple as that.

“The car was incredible today, I think we were for sure the quickest, I just lost it in the beginning, so yeah disappointed but a lot of positives and one negative which ruined everything.

“I know that I can just work on it for next time, but apart from that we [scored] a good amount of points and a big thanks to the team as the car was amazing.”

As had been the case in qualifying, Hamilton finished third, his first podium finish of what has been a frustrating season for him.