Verstappen swept Barcelona and Mercedes woke up

It has no rival. It’s still very early in the championship, just the seventh race out of a total of 22. But Verstappen leading unopposed to his third straight title. The Dutchman won a quiet victory this Sunday, riding with his elbow out, without messing up his hair, riding alone and without anyone shadowing him. He gave 66 laps of honor Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya, full. He red bull this is the best car And it is in the best hands. The pair that make up RB19 and he is unbeatable right now. And on a track with so many straight and pure cars, the Dutchman won with the cap. Only rain can make his career better. But finally, the clouds remained patient in the sky of montmelocontemplating the world’s greatest spectacle.

Max won against the two Mercedes, coming from behind, with Hamilton 2nd and Russell 3rd. Perez was 4th and Sainz was 5th in a Ferrari that still needs a lot of improvement. Alonso finished 7th, behind Stroll (6th)and Leclerc, out of the points (11th).

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The Circuit public are rubbing their hands before the weekend. He dreamed of the long-awaited victory number 33 for Fernando Alonso after 5 podiums in 6 races and close to pole position and victory in Monaco. Also in the hope that the new and important package of improvements from Ferrari will allow Sainz to fight the race with better speed and lower degradation than previous appointments. But at the beginning, the only and clear dominator was Verstappen. Sainz’s turnaround in Q3 saw him start 2nd and the man from Madrid replaced Alonso as a big hope for Sunday. His starting position, together with the disastrous ‘qualification’ of Leclerc (he started from the pit lane) and Pérez (11th) made him dream of a podium. But Carlos warned on Saturday: “the podium is possible but it will be difficult”. So it is. Mercedes woke up.

And pay attention because Barcelona is a very representative track of rhythm cars. Missing for so long, the star team shed their delusions about the almost sidepod-less car in Monaco. On pontoons more like Red Bull, the stars have to check their car in Barcelona. It works, wow it works. This Sunday they showed it at the race.

Sainz starts second but he can’t do anything to stop Hamilton and Russell, who have better pace and better strategy. Hamilton passed him first in his first stint. And then, Russell, who with Lewis extended his stop longer than Carlos due to better wear, overtook him on lap 35 with newer tires. And with 16 laps to go, Pérez, who started 11th, after extending his runs with a good Pace passed Carlos on the track with younger rubber to snatch fourth place from him. Sainz was 5th, without having done more than a Ferrari that didn’t improve what it should have and seeing how Mercedes did.

Alonso, 7th

Fernando Alonso tries to get back in search of the Top-5. He could have fought ‘qualy’ for 2nd place, but two mistakes on a very fine track saw him start 8th this Sunday. He will give it his all in front of his fans with the theoretical best racing speed and destruction of his Aston Martin. At the start he won two places, to Norris due to a problem, and to Hülkenberg with a very good start. But with the medium tire, which he returned to his first stop, the car did not respond as expected.

His race is no longer with Mercedes or Sainz, but with Ocon, Tsunoda and Zhou in search of the best possible position. He extended his saves to continue attacking with a younger hard rubber. There, from lap 45, there were 12 more, when Fernando was more comfortable. He went to everyone. He cut off Zhou by 2 seconds and passed him. He then went for Tsunoda and then for his former teammate Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman has already starred in ultra-aggressive defenses against Alonso when they were teammates. And a year later, in different teams, he repeated. Ocon suddenly changed direction on the straight, at over 300 km/h, closing Alonso on the grass. They would have been close together. The Spaniard dodged it and hit his opponent with the ax.

It is the 7th. He arrived at the wheel of his partner Stroll. Their relationship is very different. Both respect each other and row in the same direction. Stroll says he will not attack Fernando in Baku. And this time, despite his desire to return and at his best speed, Fernando prefers to help Lance: “I will not attack. Tell Lance not to worry. Zero risks”, said Fernando, who assured that he only wants to open a gap with his rivals. Ocon was 5″, but Fernando managed to control him. And so the date ended. This is the worst result so far this year, but Alonso has already warned that it will happen several times this year and it could happen in Barcelona. And if it happens, there’s no need to sink: “It could be here that maybe the 7th or 8th is there. And I will continue to be happy. Because the project is more long-term and not from weekend to weekend. That could be other teams, who will go in the short term. We have a mission and it is more long-term”, he pointed out. Now, the only doubt is to see if what happened in Barcelona is a trend or if Aston Martin can be the 2nd best car in the next rounds. In Barcelona he was hurt that the temperature of the asphalt was lower because of the clouds. And more improvements are expected from Aston Martin