Max Verstappen took his seventh victory in 10 races this season at the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend. Verstappen missed out on pole for the third round in succession but just like in Montreal, that didn’t stop him.
While the Dutchman was able to get past Lando Norris at the start, Mercedes driver George Russell swooped round the outside of both front-row starters in a spectacular move. Crucially, though, Verstappen made a relatively swift move on the Englishman to take the lead.
From there, he engaged in a strategic battle with Norris, who extended his first two stints. This gave the McLaren a tyre advantage when he did eventually pit, but while he was able to close the gap, he didn’t get close enough to put the Dutchman under serious pressure.
After a season-worst P6 in Monaco (counting only the races he’s finished), Verstappen saw his lead at the top cut to 31 points. However, he’s opened it back up to 69 in the two races since, quashing talk of a fight for the drivers’ title.
His nearest challenger had been Charles Leclerc, but the Ferrari driver hasn’t been able to build any momentum since his Monte Carlo victory. A DNF in Canada was followed by an underwhelming fifth in Barcelona.
Ferrari rolled out a fresh set of upgrades but they didn’t deliver an instant improvement. Still, there will be optimism heading to the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend given that they beat Red Bull in a straight fight at this venue two years ago.
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc face grid penalties over component use
Ahead of the Spanish GP, Red Bull fitted a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-K and MGU-H on Verstappen’s car. Significantly, he’s now used four of each component.
The regulations stipulate that a driver will receive a grid penalty if they use five or more. The first breach triggers 10 places, with any further breaches worth five apiece.
With just 10 out of 24 races gone, Verstappen is right on the brink of a demotion. While Red Bull will able to revert to older components in their pool if necessary, it’s unlikely that they will be able to stretch them out over the full season.
From the Austrian GP onwards, then, they are at risk of a penalty. The world champion came through from sixth to win in Belgium last year after exceeding the gearbox allocation, but the progress from Red Bull’s rivals will make that much more difficult this time around.
Verstappen isn’t the only driver in this position, though. Leclerc took his fourth MGU-H in Barcelona, which means he too is under threat of a 10-place grid drop as he heads to Spielberg.
Red Bull take unprecedented action due to McLaren and Ferrari threat
Verstappen may have won the last two races, but unusually, he’s been reliant on errors from rivals. Norris and Russell both spurned chances to win in Montreal, while the former appeared to be the fastest car on track last weekend but paid the price for a sluggish start.
Even going back to Imola, when Verstappen started on pole, the Briton closed to within 0.7 seconds by the chequered flag. Red Bull haven’t claimed a truly dominant victory since the Chinese GP back in April.
This has prompted the team to change their plans behind the scenes. They’ve called upon ‘many more employees than usual’, sacrificing days off as they seek to introduce new upgrades before the summer break.
1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill has warned Verstappen that his advantage could ‘evaporate’ if he ends up finishing third or fourth on a regular basis. And he thinks McLaren, Ferrari and a resurgent Mercedes could soon put him in that position.
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