What radio calls reveal about Verstappen’s controlled pace and Perez’s struggles · RaceFans

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez drove the same car in the Spanish Grand Prix but finished over a minute apart.

Their radio chatter during the race reveals Perez struggling to make the car do what he needs it to, while Verstappen’s progress at the front of the field was almost serene.

While Verstappen wasn’t always happy with his car, he prompted his race engineer for assistance and received it. In Perez’s car, his race engineer Hugh Bird regularly prompted him to advise the team on where he was struggling.

From Perez’s messages we can also see how far within himself Verstappen drove at the beginning of the race. He only started to dig deep at the end, when Lando Norris began to close on him.

Verstappen and Perez’s Spanish GP radio messages

Verstappen ran second at the start of the race behind leader George Russell. Eager to get into the lead and enjoy the benefit of fresh air, Verstappen pushed hard to pass the Mercedes as the first lap began.

Doing so at this stage of the race was potentially risky as it placed a high strain on his tyres when his fuel load was at its greatest. Nonetheless his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase urged him to make the move as they neared the end of the second lap, and Verstappen needed no further encouragement or advice to get the job done.

In past races Lambiase has told him to go “straight into” tyre management once in the lead after the start, but on this occasion it appears that was taken for granted, and Verstappen’s lap times immediately slowed after he hit the front:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Meanwhile Perez was mired in 11th place, trying to find a way past Nico Hulkenberg. At one stage he was given information about Verstappen’s use of lift-and-coast – backing off early into braking zones – and Bird gave him direct instructions on how to use the car’s maximum available power to pass the Haas: