Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix despite an early trip through the gravel, while Charles Leclerc retired from the lead with a power unit problem.
Leclerc comfortably led the early running before suddenly slowing mid way through the race. Sergio Perez led the race, but Red Bull team orders allowed Verstappen into the lead. Perez finished second, with George Russell completing the podium in third.
At the start of the race, Leclerc moved to the inside to defend from Verstappen’s efforts to take the lead and successfully held his position into turn one. Behind, Russell pulled ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr to jump to third by the first corner, while Perez followed the Mercedes through to demote Sainz to fifth.
Heading into turn four, Kevin Magnussen tried to pass Lewis Hamilton around the outside of the right hander, but the pair collided at the entry of the turn, sending the Haas bouncing across the gravel and leaving Hamilton with a puncture on his Mercedes. Both drivers recovered to the pits to fix damage and change tyres, but dropped to the rear of the field.
Leclerc led from Verstappen, with Russell, Perez and Sainz chasing behind. On the seventh lap, Sainz lost control of his Ferrari on the way into turn four, skidding into the gravel and plummeting down the order by the time he had recovered back onto the track. Then, just two laps later, Verstappen appeared to make an identical error at the exact same turn, dropping him behind Russell and Perez.
With Verstappen now behind Perez, Red Bull ordered Perez to allow the world champion by, which he duly complied with. Verstappen tried attacking Russell over what was now second place, but despite being within a second of the Mercedes, he appeared to have difficulty getting his DRS to open – a recurrence of the problem that affected him in qualifying.
Mercedes pitted Russell and Red Bull followed suit, pitting Verstappen on the same lap. After the pair switched from used softs to new medium tyres, they both left…