F1

MERCEDES enjoyed their best result of the season to give some hope of breaking Max Verstappen’s F1 stranglehold.The Red Bull man romped to his fifth win in the opening seven races – with all of this season’s grands prix being won by the Milton-Keynes based team.
Max Verstappen celebrates winning the Spanish GPCredit: Reuters
The Red Bull star cruised to a serene victory to continue his team’s dominanceCredit: AP
But there is renewed optimism that the Silver Arrows’ revised car design can help deliver them a much needed boost in the form of a victory.
While Verstappen was comfortably quickest here in Barcelona, Lewis Hamilton was second and George Russell was third.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez was fourth, despite having started in 11th place, one spot ahead of Russell, who had clashed with Hamilton during qualifying.
Verstappen got a good start as did Hamilton, who moved up a place when he passed Lando Norris into the first corner.
READ MORE IN F1
But as they squeezed into Turn Two, Norris went into the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes causing damage to his own car.
Norris was forced to pit while the contact shuffled Hamilton out of place and allowed Lance Stroll to move into third place.
The kerfuffle behind him was of no interest to Verstappen, who had opened up a two-second lead after only four laps.
Despite his first-lap set back, Hamilton pulled back into third place as he went around Stroll into turn one on lap eight.
Most read in Motorsport
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST ONLINE CASINOS FOR 2023
Lewis Hamilton’s new Mercedes showed signs of lifeCredit: AFP
It was an encouraging weekend for Hamilton and the Silver ArrowsCredit: Getty
Complete F1 2023 race calendar – details on every Grand Prix this year

Russell was also making in-roads and he passed Esteban Ocon to move into fifth on lap 11.
Early pitstops for Carlos Sainz and Stroll moved Hamilton and Russell into second and third place respectively.
Hamilton made his pitstop at the end of lap 24 while Russell made his stop a lap later.
Verstappen was the second to last driver to pit on lap 27, but he had built up such an advantage that when he returned to the track, he was still leading the race.
Hamilton powered his way into second with a straight-forward overtake on Sainz into Turn One on lap 35.
And it was not long before Russell was back into third place when he passed the Spaniard who was beginning to drop like a stone.
It was encouraging for the Mercedes duo, although Hamilton was still 16 seconds adrift of runaway leader Verstappen while Russell was a further 10 seconds behind.
Mercedes pitted both drivers for fresh tyres leaving them free to hunt down Verstappen, who was on the hard tyre.
But the Red Bull man had such a lead he was again able to make his own pitstop to preserve his lead.
In the final few laps, he came close to earning a five-second time penalty for running wide and exceeding track limits.

Despite warnings from his race engineer to slow down and avoid a penalty, he ignored the instructions to set the fastest lap to earn the bonus point.
He then coasted home to a comfortable 24 second lead over Hamilton and opened up a whopping 53 point lead in the championship over Perez.
Neymar poses with singer Rosalia at the Spanish GPCredit: Getty
Ben Chilwell, Joao Felix and Mason Mount pose with F1 chief Stefano DomenicaliCredit: Getty More

LEWIS HAMILTON and George Russell clashed on track during qualifying for the Spanish GP.It is the first time the two have made contact – with Russell accepting he was to blame for driving into his Mercedes team-mate.
The two Mercedes drivers collided on the straightCredit: Twitter/SKYSPORTSF1

While Russell was eliminated from qualifying in the second session, Hamilton will start the Spanish GP in fifth place.
But he was still half a second off the pace of pole-sitter Max Verstappen, who continued to blow away the rest of the field.
The Dutchman’s pace was so superior he was comfortable to abort his final flying lap, despite looking like he would better his provisional pole.
Hamilton and Russell’s flashpoint happened on the way down to Turn One with Russell driving into his team-mate.
Read More on Lewis Hamilton
The contact broke off a piece of Hamilton’s front wing and will no doubt spark off an internal investigation.
But this was a routine pole for the championship leader, who looks untouchable.
Verstappen said: “The car was really good. It was initially tricky with the weather but it started to dry out and the car was on rails.”
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will start in second place with McLaren’s Lando Norris qualifying in third place, his best starting position of the season.
Most read in Motorsport
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST ONLINE CASINOS FOR 2023
There were early spins for Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon as the drivers initially struggled with the damp track on slick tyres.
The FIA took no chances to stop the session when Albon went off, sending stones scattering all over the track.
But that was not an excuse for another woeful performance from Ferrari, who saw Charles Leclerc qualify down in second-to-last place.
While he initially complained of problems with his car’s set up, Leclerc was then held up at the weighbridge and ultimately ran out of time to set a quick lap time on the drying track.
The second qualifying session saw two more scalps as Russell was eliminated after his clash with Hamilton.
Russell was given the boot from Q2 and will start in 12th place after labelling his performance as “nowhere”.
The Mercedes man was also joined by Sergio Perez as his title challenge continues to wilt at an alarming rate.
The Mexican made an unforced error and ran into the gravel and eventually paid the price after he was eliminated and will start outside the top 10 in 11th place. More