Red Bull F1 miss out on Spanish Grand Prix victory
Red Bull saw their drivers finish second and fifth at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, though they missed out on tasting victory.
In his 100th race for the Red Bull senior team, Max Verstappen swept past Lewis Hamilton on lap one to take the lead from second on the grid at the circuit where he won on his Red Bull debut in 2016. The Dutchman then spent most of the afternoon in the lead but locked in a battle with the 7 time world champion.
However, Verstappen and Red Bull ultimately lost out to Hamilton. The British driver’s second stop with 20 laps to go saw him able to reel in and ultimately pass the Dutchman with six laps to go.
Verstappen duly pit a second time late on after losing the lead, finishing second in the race and collecting the fastest lap bonus point.
The Dutchman is second in the driver’s standings on 80 points with 1 win from the opening 4 rounds. He is 14 points behind Hamilton, who has won the other 3 races so far in 2021.
As for Perez, the Mexican came 5th. He started 8th after a difficult qualifying session blighted by an injury and a spin in Q3, but early moves saw him move up into the top 6. A firm pass on Daniel Ricciardo then saw him take 5th position, which he would retain at the end of the event. The afternoon’s race means Perez sits 6th in the championship after the opening 4 rounds.
The Milton Keynes-based Red Bull senior squad is second after the opening four rounds. The team have 112, which sees them sit 29 points below Mercedes and 47 points ahead of third placed McLaren.
Speaking after the race, Verstappen felt they reached the limit of what was achievable.
He said, “I tried everything I could today and took the lead at Turn 1 but from there we were just lacking a bit of pace to Mercedes. Of course we wanted to win but I cannot feel too disappointed as I did everything I could out there and maximized the opportunities. Even if we had looked at another strategy and done a two stop and pitted before them, we wouldn’t have made the time up as they were just faster than us.
“I pretty much knew that when he pitted for the second time that he would come back at me on the new tyres a bit like Hungary 2019 and although I did everything I could I was a bit of a sitting duck. The pace difference on the tyres made it an easy pass for Lewis and then I was able to at least keep second place and take Fastest Lap. It was just a day where we lacked a bit of pace and second was the best result possible.”
As for Perez, he said he felt that he was growing more confident and that he was also pleased with his move to get past Ricciardo, despite the track making it difficult to make up places from a sub-par qualifying.
He said, “This isn’t an easy track to overtake on which made for a tough race. We had a good first lap and made up some positions but it took me quite a long time to get past Daniel. The McLaren was extremely fast on the straights so it was really hard to try a move but we made it work around the outside of Turn 1. I knew what I had to do, I pushed on and managed to make it work but we didn’t have much tyre life left afterwards so it was tough.
“I’m getting more confident with the car now and every time I get to the end of a weekend, I think, ‘I wish the weekend was just starting now.’ Also every circuit is different so what I learn here will be different to what I need in Monaco but the main thing is that I am still adapting and hopefully soon we can be 100%. I am excited for Monaco, especially with this car as historically it’s been competitive and I think we have a chance of winning.”