Formula 1
MORE OF THE SAME FROM MAX AND RED BULL, MERCEDES SEEMS TO HAVE RE-AWAKENED WITH LCH AND GEORGE ON THE PODIUM AND LECLERC LOOKED LOST IN THE FERRARI OZONE!
Max produced a ‘double top’ with fastest laps in both runs to finish quickest ahead of two-time champion and local hero Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.
After a near-perfect day at the Circuit de Catalunya, where he claimed his maiden victory in 2016 and won last year, the 25-year-old Dutchman said the new layout was “more fun to drive” and would encourage overtaking.
BARCELONA, SPAIN – JUNE 04: The Red Bull Racing team celebrate after the F1 Grand Prix of Spain at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on June 04, 2023 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.
“Overall, I think we had a very good day,” said Verstappen, who leads this year’s championship by 39 points ahead of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
The car was in a good window and of course, you try to fine tune a few things here and there but on the short run and long run everything looked quite good.
“From my side, I felt very comfortable in the car looking after the tyres. I still need to look at the lap times of others but it was a good day.”
Asked about the circuit, which has a revised final sector following the removal of a chicane to create faster and more flowing corners, he was enthusiastic.
“It’s been much more fun to drive,” he said.
“In general, F1 cars are better at high speeds so, for me, the last two corners are now much better to drive.
“I tried to follow a few cars, as well, and it seemed to be quite ok there as well — so I was positively surprised for the overtaking.”
His Red Bull team-mate Perez was fourth as he sought to shake off a “disastrous” weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix where he crashed in qualifying and failed to score a point.
Max : “To win here again feels incredible. It’s a massive pleasure to drive a car like this. It was important to try and keep the lead into turn one, it was quite tight. From there onwards it was about managing the tyres, I was able to create a big gap. We went on to the hards but I didn’t seem to have much grip, I was sliding around quite a lot, the pace was okay but I couldn’t create more of a gap, so we switched to softs and then I just needed to bring it home. We’ve had another strong weekend and that’s of course what I like to see for the Team, hopefully we can keep this up throughout the year.”
Mike Krack, Team Principal: “It was good to have both Aston Martins finish well this afternoon and we come away from Barcelona with 14 points. Lance and Fernando pushed hard all afternoon, made some important overtakes, and showed great teamwork. We should not be disappointed with this result – even though we did not quite have the pace to fight for the podium today. It was in the first stint on the Softs that we did not quite have the performance to catch the cars ahead and in the second and third stints we managed our pace and had a comfortable advantage over the teams behind us. Before we leave Spain, I want to say a big thank you to the passionate fans: their energy has been very motivating throughout this race week, and we have really enjoyed racing here.”
Fernando: “We didn’t have as much pace today on both the Soft and Hard compounds, so it was a tricky race for us. We tried to go longer on our strategy and hoped it would pay off later with fresher tyres, but our rivals had a little more pace. I think sixth and seventh positions were the maximum for us. I thought our performance seemed better in qualifying, so I think we need to look at why and aim to bounce back for Canada. We still scored some solid points and we had no risk at the end of the race. I want to thank the fans for their passion, energy and support this weekend. It was very emotional and special for me.”
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: I’m really pleased with the hard work that has been done in Brackley and Brixworth, and happy for everyone in the Team. It’s a good result but we need to be realistic too. The lower temperatures today and on Saturday really suited us; it was nice and fresh, not too hot nor too cold, and the car was in a mega window.
Lewis: I am so happy after today. I didn’t expect us to come here this weekend and finish second. I was able to keep everything under control today. We couldn’t keep up with the Red Bull of Max (Verstappen) as they are in another league, but this is still a really positive result. For George to come through from P12 to P3 is also spectacular. I feel incredibly grateful to the whole Team, everyone back at the factory to Team LH all over the world who are always sticking by me.
We are learning more and more about the car. I am hoping that the car continues to be like it was this weekend. I am hoping from here onwards we are in a good place. For sure, there will be some circuits where the car isn’t quite in the right window but hopefully the next few races should suit us.