The good news for his opponents is that Max Verstappen in Barcelona he visited together with Adrian Newey the Alinghi shipyard for the challenges of the next America’s Cup: maybe, persuaded by the designer-guru (also involved in the oldest sporting event), Max will decide to experiment if he’s fast even on the sea and not just in F1. The bad news is that it’s just bullshit and that in any case 2024, if you really think about sailing, is still a long way off. Therefore blows continue to rain on the asphalt for everyone. The Spanish GP 2023? Another installment in the saga of the Dutchman and a RB19 that seems unbeatable first of all if he drives it (and that in any case in the year, thanks also to the two and a half successes by Perez, he hasn’t lost to anyone yet).
The breaking latest news of the Spanish GP: Verstappen first, then Hamilton and Russell
Max Verstappen: free vote
Give it 10, 10 with honors, 11, 110 with honors? It’s all worth itwe no longer know how to choose. Then you associate the numbers of the vote with a dominance that led The Flying Dutchman at the fourth Grand Slam of his career (pole position, race always in the lead, victory, fastest lap). Barcelona is the place of the first success in F1, in 2016. Today Verstappen is at an altitude of 85 podiums and 40 first places (the youngest in history to achieve this result): he is now only one success behind Ayrton Senna and has his third title world champion already in your pocket when summer hasn’t started yet. To think that someone could undermine him would be an insult to his logic and talent.
Mercedes: 9
Let’s open the report cards of the rest of the world with those who seem to have made a clear leap in quality, even if not yet sufficient to place themselves at the same level as Red Bull. Yes, let’s talk about Mercedes, which with the modification to the bellies and suspension has made the W14 more drivable: now in Brackley they will be able to work on reducing a gap that remains clear (24 seconds between Verstappen and Hamilton with the first of the two Frecce Nere) . On the positive side there is also the second place in the Constructors’ World Championship: overtaking Aston Martin.
George Russell: 8,5
This time in the house of Mercedes the show was above all given by the young Giorgio. He had to make up for the bullshit in qualifying (dangerous touch with Hamilton, with Toto Wolff enraged) and started from twelfth position. He climbed up to the podium, even finding a way to make everyone laugh: «But has it started to rain? Ah no, maybe it’s my sweat…”
Lewis Hamilton: 8
Mercedes’ progress reassured him: second place brought a smile back to his face, teasing him to even speak in a future key: «The Bulls (Red Bull, ndr) are still a long way off, but I hope Mercedes can beat them by the end of the year or next year at the latest.” The first deduction after this joke? With the pipe that Luigi from Stevenage is thinking about Ferrari…
Zhou Guanyu: 7
Zhou Guanyu or Guanyu Zhou, because the funny thing is that we still don’t understand which is the name and which is the surname (the pilot says one thing, the mother another). However, while waiting to resolve the dilemma, let’s say Alfa Romeo’s Chinese. He battled many rivals and in the end he finished in the points taking advantage of the penalty that Tsunoda remedied for pushing him out (the Japanese, very combative with the Alpha Tauri, was also in sight of a good mark; but he gets a 5 just for that trifle).
Lance Stroll: 7
In Barcelona, the Aston Martin was going like a Panda or a little more, but the Canadian son of the boss recovered after two “impacted” races. Was it dad’s bullshit? Or, isn’t Lance doing more when the car is running worse?
Fernando Alonso: 6.5
Forced break – a bit like when you end up in prison at Monopoly – for the “Matador”: between qualifying and the GP, the mine of his Aston Martin had no nuggets to offer and so Fernando had to settle for greeting the fans, rather than praise them. But he didn’t deny a flicker: overtaking Ocon with a gap on the right to stem the defense to the limit of the French was worth the ticket.
Sergio Perez: 6.5
Fourth place, with an ascent from eleventh position on the start grid. Many voted him as driver of the day, but let’s not exaggerate: once again, with the same car, Perez took Verstappen’s pay. Let’s add that in qualifying he made a mistake, compromising quite a bit of his hopes. As if that weren’t enough, Helmut Marko’s “blessing” arrived, who practically mocked him in comparison with Max: poor beast…
Alpine Renault: 6+
The glories of Montecarlo are not repeated (third place for Ocon), but both single-seaters end up in the “top 10”, even if in the poor area: rather than nothing, better rather…
Carlos Sainz: 6
From second to fifth: so it is, if you like. In short, it would be complete insufficiency, but Carlos can invoke the extenuating circumstances of a Ferrari that doesn’t exist yet. In short, you drive this SF-23… But when Russell put it on it was as soft as a mozzarella: soul, a little grit.
Charles Leclerc: 6
Even for Charles a “political” sufficiency, given the conditions of the Red Army and the troubles (not attributable to him) on Saturday. Starting from the pit lane, he tried to do something good by narrowly missing tenth place. Lent, however, continues and is only poison for morale.
Aston Martin: 5
Ouch, ouch, instead of taking a step forward to approach Red Bull, there is a step backwards which makes them lose second place among the Constructors and which authorizes a question: is the beer already finished, or running out?
Lando Norris: 5.5
After bad luck (on the starting grid the mechanics scrambled to fix a problem with his rear end) and his mistakes (Hamilton’s turn at the start, with a damaged front wing) he declassified a GP that had now gone up in a super-test in which he ran on very interesting times, demonstrating McLaren’s progress. But let’s not forget that he was third at the start: therefore, no Hell but Purgatory yes, and how.
Ferrari: 4
The annus horribilis continues despite the months dedicated to getting out of the impasse and trying to give a shred of continuity to a machine that at this point can only be considered wrong. If this is progress, we’re fresh… (plus there was another exchange of views between Leclerc and the low wall on the roofs to be fitted). Let’s not drag it out too long: it will be wise to take advantage of the rest of the season in order not to “fuck” even the SF-24, or whatever it will be called.