Max Verstappen won Sunday’s (May 22) Spanish Grand Prix after a tumultuous day that featured an early trip through the gravel, DRS headaches, and an instance of team orders on the part of Red Bull.
“I tried to stay focused, of course it’s not nice when stuff like that happens,” Verstappen told Pedro de la Rosa.
“But, at the end of course, very happy to win and also very happy for Checo. It was a great result for the team.”
Verstappen followed pole sitter Charles Leclerc off the line and saw the Ferrari streak off into the distance through the opening laps of the race. Verstappen gave chase until a burst of wind send him sliding through the turn four gravel trap on lap nine.
Verstappen reemerged behind George Russell and Sergio Perez, with dirty tires for good measure.
Leclerc, having looked in control of the race by a metric ton, saw his day suddenly unraveled on the 27th lap of the day. Leading Russell by over 13 seconds, with a winning strategy in hand, Leclerc was suddenly seen going slowly through sector two, reporting a loss of power.
Leclerc was able to drag his Ferrari back to the paddock, collecting his first DNF of 2022 in the process.
Speaking to SkySports, Leclerc revealed that all appeared normal from the cockpit up until the power unit’s sudden failure.
“I don’t know anything more than what happened,” Leclerc said. “I had no indications before, then it just broke and lost the power completely.”
Leclerc’s sudden retirement left Russell leading from Verstappen and Perez. Red Bull opting to split strategies — initially planning to leave Perez on a one stop — left Russell to hang on indefinitely, but certainly out of contention for the win.
Perez inherited the lead when both Russell and Verstappen pitted as the race approached the halfway point, and cycled back to first place following the next round of stops.
Despite Verstappen being behind on fresher mediums, Perez was in legitimate control of the race, with…
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