Spanish Grand Prix: Max Verstappen romps to lights-to-flag win to extend championship lead

Max Verstappen bushed Carlos Sainz into the archetypal country and from determination ne'er looked backmost en way to his 40th F1 victory

Red Bull's Max Verstappen cruised to a 3rd consecutive victory, his 5th successful 7 races, to triumph the Spanish Grand Prix and instrumentality power of the season.

Verstappen was followed location by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell connected an encouraging time for Mercedes.

Russell faced a complaint from Perez successful the closing laps but held connected for his archetypal podium decorativeness of the year.

Carlos Sainz slipped from 2nd connected the grid to 5th astatine the decorativeness successful the upgraded Ferrari, losing 4th to Perez successful the closing stages.

Fernando Alonso charged up from 10th spot aft his last pit halt to walk 3 drivers to instrumentality seventh astatine the flag.

Alonso could person besides passed Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll for sixth, but backed disconnected and held presumption down the Canadian, adjacent going connected to the vigor to archer the squad to fto Stroll cognize determination was "no risk" that helium would effort to overtake him.

• How Spanish GP unfolded

Verstappen imperious again

Verstappen had looked unbeatable from his archetypal thigh successful Friday signifier and proved to beryllium precisely that successful the race.

He faced a little menace from Sainz, who made a amended commencement and was side-by-side heading to the archetypal corner, but the Spaniard thought amended of a situation connected the extracurricular and conceded the position.

From that infinitesimal on, Verstappen was untouchable.

Red Bull chose the mean tyre for some cars for the commencement dissimilar the brushed connected astir of the different cars. That gave them the enactment of either a one-stop oregon a two-stop strategy.

They fitted the hard astatine his archetypal halt and helium could person gone to the extremity connected that, but helium decided helium did not similar it and swapped to the brushed for a abbreviated last stint.

Verstappen's lone interest was that helium was fixed a black-and-white emblem for exceeding way limits 3 times.

After that, helium was warned not to hazard going for the constituent for fastest lap, but helium did it anyhow - with success, of course.

A fillip for Mercedes

Behind Verstappen, Mercedes had a beardown contention to instrumentality the last 2 podium positions.

Hamilton tracked Sainz successful the archetypal stint earlier moving longer to his archetypal stop, coming retired down the Ferrari and past overtaking it, aft which helium had a comfy tally to the flag.

Behind him, Russell drove an fantabulous contention from 12th connected the grid.

He was investigated for gaining a mates of positions aft taking to the flight roadworthy astatine the archetypal corner, but escaped a penalty, past passed Alonso and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon to determination up to 5th spot successful the archetypal stint.

A aboriginal pit halt than Stroll moved him up of the Aston Martin and gave him the tyre vantage to pursuit down and walk Sainz, arsenic Hamilton had done before.

A 2nd pit halt aboriginal successful the contention for brushed tyres looked to springiness him a accidental to pursuit down Perez, who by past had moved up the tract from 11th connected the grid, for third.

Red Bull pitted Perez for caller softs, which enactment him down the Mercedes, but though helium was faster successful the closing laps helium was incapable to get adjacent capable to endanger Russell, who finished 3 seconds ahead.

Sainz slipped backmost to fifth, but astatine slightest his time was amended than team-mate Charles Leclerc, who made small advancement from his pit-lane commencement aft a mediocre qualifying session, seemed not to beryllium helped by an unusual strategy prime by Ferrari and came location 11th, down Ocon, Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu and Alpine's Pierre Gasly. A post-mortem volition undoubtedly travel astatine Maranello.

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