The Red Bull man took the lead of the race on Lap 3 after George Russell’s Mercedes, starting fourth, made the most of its electric start as the lights went out to lead early on.
With Verstappen less than happy after appearing to be squeezed by Norris at the start, the three-time world champion settled down after getting past the McLaren man before pipping Russell for the lead with a move down the outside of Turn 1.
Pole-sitter Norris, who had been lauding his “perfect lap” in qualifying yesterday, would spend the crucial early stages of the race stuck behind Russell, costing him time in the eventual fight for the lead.
With the lead changing hands several times as drivers dipped in for their pit stops, Verstappen would continue to control the race and maintain his lead as the chequered flag closed in. The Red Bull man had kept a set of new softs aside for his final stint of the Grand Prix.
With Norris running second, his efforts to close in on the Dutchman to challenge for the victory were in vain despite Verstappen’s struggles towards the end, hindered by his second pit stop being a slow 3.6-second effort.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton managed to secure his first Grand Prix podium of the season, having enjoyed a couple of dramatic on-track battles with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, while Russell would come home in P4 – complaining that his hard tyre “did not feel good” on his final stint.
Charles Leclerc and Sainz’s Ferraris would come home in P5 and P6, respectively, with any hope of a Scuderia challenge failing to materialise around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Pierre Gasly took a well-deserved ninth for Alpine, and his teammate Esteban Ocon made it a double-point affair for the team, thanks to his P10 result.
Sergio Perez managed to undo some of the damage caused by his three-place grid penalty picked up last time in Canada, with the Red Bull man initially starting from 11th, by making a late overtake on Gasly for eighth.
Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas would take 11th, hindered by a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Fernando Alonso’s performance was only good enough for 12th in what has been a difficult weekend for Aston Martin.
Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu would come home in 13th ahead of Alonso’s teammate Stroll, while Daniel Ricciardo took P15. RB was scratching after a difficult weekend when they introduced a significant new update.
That difficulty was compounded with Yuki Tsunoda in the 19th – on a day…
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