Spanish GP: Verstappen claims tense win as Leclerc retires

Max Verstappen overcame a rare mistake and DRS problems to score his fourth win of the 2022 Formula 1 season at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The race appeared to be Charles Leclerc’s to lose after an eventful first stint saw him hold a big lead over the field, but reliability issues would strike the Ferrari in the Barcelona heat as he lost the championship lead for the first time this year.

That left a battle between the Red Bulls and George Russell for victory, but the world champion had the perfect strategy to take the lead and the victory. 

Race Review

Leclerc kept Verstappen at bay on the run to Turn 1 as Russell claimed third.

Carlos Sainz made up for a poor start by driving around the outside of Lewis Hamilton in Turn 3, with Kevin Magnussen trying to attack the Mercedes into Turn 4.

But the Briton would understeer into the Haas pushing the Dane into the gravel and giving Lewis a puncture.

The early laps saw identical errors from Sainz and Verstappen at Turn 4 as they slid off the track into the gravel in the gusty, hot conditions.

While the Spaniard dropped down the order, the Dutchman resumed in fourth behind Russell and teammate Sergio Perez, giving Leclerc a 10-second lead out front in the Ferrari.

Max and George pitted on the same lap with the Mercedes resuming ahead, much to the frustration of the world champion who was suffering from a malfunctioning DRS.

Perez dropped to fourth after his pit-stop, giving Leclerc the luxury of resuming in the lead when he switched to the medium tyres.

Russell and Verstappen continued their battle with a brilliant wheel-to-wheel duel through the first sector as the Mercedes just stayed ahead.

Drama out front as a loss of power for Leclerc caused his first retirement of the season after leading comfortably.

Verstappen pitted for a second time, switching to a three-stop strategy, as Perez caught and passed Russell to take the lead as the race swung towards Red Bull.

A blistering stint by the world champion saw him claim the race lead for the first time after the other leaders made their second stops.

But Verstappen still had to push as he had to open up a gap before his final change of tyres. He couldn’t do enough to stay ahead of Perez, but did resume in second ahead of Russell.

That left the Dutchman free to try and catch his teammate for the win in the final 20 laps, but he didn’t have to wait long as Red Bull eased Max back into the lead and on to take the victory.

Perez settled for second ahead of Russell in third.

The closing laps saw a big battle for fourth between Valtteri Bottas, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, the latter two recovering from earlier incidents.

Much fresher tyres on the Ferrari and Mercedes meant they overhauled the Finn easily, dropping the Alfa Romeo to sixth.

Hamilton then swooped past the Spaniard into Turn 1, but a water leak on his car in the closing laps allowed Sainz back through to claim fourth.

Lewis retained fifth ahead of Bottas, Esteban Ocon took seventh for Alpine as Lando Norris battled illness to finish eighth.

Fernando Alonso stormed from the back of the grid after an engine penalty to ninth, with Yuki Tsunoda completing the top 10.

Further down, Sebastian Vettel just missed out on points in 11th, while Mick Schumacher’s wait for his first points goes on after ending P14.

A tough day for Haas saw Kevin Magnussen finish 17th between the two Williams’ as Alex Albon finished last after making four pit-stops.

Zhou Guanyu joined Charles Leclerc as the only two retirements both with Ferrari engine problems.

Full results from the race can be seen below: