Spanish GP Race Analysis - Another One Got Away For Lando

The Race That Didn't Live Up To Our Expectations

Well if you watched the race it probably didn’t live up to any of our expectations. The track fell into it old ways and removed exciting from it’s vocabulary. There were some highlights however it was very underwhelming overall.

It was an excellent qualifying session from Lando Norris. Verstappen had provisional pole and Max was on a flyer of a lap with the use of Perez’ slip stream however it wasn’t enough. Lando matched Verstappen in Sector 1 and beat him in sector 2 and 3. Both Mercedes also secured 3 and 4th on the starting grid exhilarating qualifying session. Now on to the race.

Qualifying Performance - Spanish GP 2024

Lights out! NOR didn’t get the greatest launch off the line and attempted to cover off VER straight away. VER was alongside NOR and he may have closed the gate too much pushing VER off the track slightly. This allowed RUS in 4th to take advantage of a double slip stream and the battle between the Redbull and the McLaren. RUS absolutely catapulted into corner 1 and put himself into 1st place. NOR also lost out to VER putting him from 1st to 3rd. Not the best start for the McLaren.

Spanish GP - Light’s Out

The first stint didn’t really see too much action after that as it was relatively short stint. Its a shame NOR couldn’t keep 1st position into corner 1. RUS was quickly under pressure from VER. On lap 3 VER managed to easily get past RUS securing 1st place. RUS then held up NOR for quite a few laps allowing VER to increase the distance between first and second place.

Spanish GP - Lap 1 Corner 1 RUS Takes The Lead

On the second stint we saw most drivers switch onto the medium tyre. RUS had and issue in his pit stop totaling it to 5.3 second completely nullifying his lead on SAI. This left them neck and neck down the pit lane.

HAM was battling with SAI for quite a few laps after pitting. HAM needed to get past SAI to get the most use out of those fresher tyres. HAM managed to take SAI in an incredible overtake into turn 1 on lap 19. SAI didn’t think it was a fair overtake however the Stewards marked as no further investigation. In SAI post race interview he believe it deserved a penalty as he was given the same in Miami. It wasn’t a great race for the guy to be honest with team conflicts coming to light as well.

Spanish GP - HAM First Overtake on SAI

NOR pitted last out of the top runners. this demoted him to at one point 7th place. His tyre where 6 laps newer than most. NOR managed to take advantage of the newer tyre in a series of overtakes. He was absolutely flying through.

NOR then came up to the back of the Mercedes duo. It took NOR 2 laps once within DRS range. HAM had the slipstream from RUS on the first attempt. On the next attempt NOR got past HAM with ease into turn 1 on lap 32 as HAM didn’t try to defend. He then dispatch RUS on lap 35 however this was a much harder overtake that continued until the end of sector 2. The constant battle through these sectors for 2nd place was probably one of the only parts that i could define as racing.

Spanish GP - NOR Overtake on HAM

Mercedes and Ferrari were first in the top contenders to pit for the 2nd time with RUS and SAI onto the Hard and soon followed by HAM onto the Soft. HAM had to take SAI again however this time was far easier on the Soft tyre taking the position before corner 1. Both Mercedes made overtake at the same time with RUS overtaking PIA.

Spanish GP - (FRONT) RUS Taking PIA and (BACK) HAM Taking SAI

We saw a lot of driver jump back onto the soft compound. This gave us some faster racing with the lower fuel loads. Their we a few exception with RUS and SAI opting for the Hard. This decision cost RUS a podium place as HAM managed to overtake on lap 52 and create a large buffer. RUS also had pressure for LEC later on in the lap. LEC and SAI swapped the cars around on lap 55 to allow LEC on the softs to Push

NOR pitted on lap 47 he just came out in front of RUS with about a metre gap. This gave him provisional 2nd place, however he had a lot of clean air ahead which meant he could push to take on VER.

Spanish GP - NOR Exiting The Pit In 2nd Place

NOR throughout the lap looked as if he was going to be able to catch up to VER and have a re imagined Imola 2.0, however that was just dream talk and the tyre dropped off. NOR started with 8 second gap and closed it to 2.9 by the end. It was unlikely that VER was pushing on the last few laps though so isn’t a true reflection of actual time gained back. NOR said in post race that he struggled to go off line to look for some extra pace as the tyre were overheating. Spain GP + Plus soft tyre what do you expect I guess.

Spanish GP Top 10 Finish

Overall, I think this race is a bit underwhelming to be honest. There was so much potential for good racing and close racing and yet again we saw the Red Bull get away at the front. I know it was closer further down the grid, but at the end of the day we don’t watch the race to see who gets second place or third place we watched see who wins. The 2026 regulation can’t come any sooner.

Rant over. The positive is that generally the gap is closing, however the last few races probably got my expectations too high on the improvements installed by the other teams as Ferrari were not anywhere near contention. Mercedes were still nowhere near fast enough to challenge the Red Bull car. The only challenge the Redbull had was Norris in the McLaren and one small mistake meant VER had the win.

Tyre Analysis

On to the tyre analysis now. Pirelli have produced a great visual prior to the race over what the optimum strategy is based on their calculations. As we can see at least a 2 stopper was predicted. This shows the high level of degradation in Spain. They did show a three stopper maximising the soft compound however I do not think any team has enough new sets. that didn’t stop a few driver though.

Pirelli Strategy Predictions - Spanish GP 2024

Now how does the predictions fair to the actual race. Obviously the prediction don’t take into account and incidents. On this occasion there were none.

. . Canadian GP - Tyre Strategy by @F1TelemetryData

The dominant starting tyre strategy was soft-medium-soft, followed by some teams using a soft-medium-hard strategy. The drivers who secured podium finishes predominantly used soft-medium-soft.

Pirelli’s prediction of 15-21 laps for the optimal range of soft tyres was mostly accurate. However, Norris and Leclerc stretched their soft tyres significantly longer. There was a moment when it seemed Norris might attempt a one-stop strategy by taking the softs to lap 30, but this decision proved costly as he lost time and had to regain positions. A key difference for Norris and Leclerc was starting on fresh softs, unlike other top contenders who began on used ones.

In the second stint, teams generally shifted to medium tyres, though some drivers, like Perez and Bottas, opted for double softs. The medium tyre offered similar longevity to the soft, with drivers pitting again after around 20 laps. There was a significant difference in performance comparing the soft to the hard with the soft being way more dominant and the hard didn’t really come into play.

Finishing on hard tyres was challenging, as seen with RUS, who finished only 0.2 seconds ahead of LEC. Cooler track conditions may have extended the life of the soft tyres but caused heat retention issues for the hard tyres, making it a risky choice.

This certainly was a track was high degradation on the tyres, however the use of undercut and overcut’s didn’t seem too successful this time round.

Overall Pirelli’s prediction was accurate and those that pitted in the ranges out performed their rivals.

Watch Highlights Here

Standings

The standings this week are quite disappointing to look at what only a few weeks ago was a close fight now is history repeating itself. The good sign that we have is NOR has taken 2nd in the drivers championship and LEC is now 3rd. Other than that, we are very much in a Red Bull championship winning season.

Driver Standing After Spanish GP - Verstappen Leads

Constructors Standings After Spanish GP - Red bull Lead

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Lights Out!

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