The 2024 Spanish Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2024) was a Formula One motor race held on 23 June 2024, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. It was the tenth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship. Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing took victory ahead of polesitter Lando Norris of McLaren, who was closing in on Verstappen during the final stages of the race. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes took third, his first podium of the season. This would be Verstappen's last win until the São Paulo Grand Prix, 11 races later, marking his longest winless streak since 2020.
As a consequence, Verstappen extended his lead in the World Drivers' Championship to 69 points over Norris, who overtook Charles Leclerc for second place in the standings. In the World Constructors' Championship, the top five remained unchanged, with Red Bull moving to 330 points, extending their lead over Ferrari to 60 points.
Background The event was held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló for the 34th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 21–23 June. The Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the 54th running of the Spanish Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.
Championship standings before the race Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 194 points, 56 points ahead of Charles Leclerc in second, and 63 ahead of Lando Norris in third. Red Bull Racing, with 301 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who are second and third with 252 and 212 points, respectively.
Entrants
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. Oliver Bearman drove in the first free practice session for Haas, in place of Nico Hülkenberg.
Tyre choices
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyre compounds (the three hardest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.
Penalties Sergio Pérez of Red Bull Racing carried a three-place grid penalty for failing to leave the track with serious mechanical difficulties after significantly damaging the rear wing at the preceding Canadian Grand Prix.
Track changes The DRS zone leading in to turn 1 was shortened by .
Practice Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 21 June 2024, at 13:30 local time (UTC+2), and was topped by Lando Norris of McLaren ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time, and was topped by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes ahead of Sainz and Norris. The third free practice session was held on 22 June 2024, at 12:30 local time, and was topped by Sainz ahead of Norris and Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc. During the session, Leclerc and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin impeded Norris and Hamilton in separate incidents. Leclerc and Stroll cut across Norris and Hamilton, respectively, with contact occurring in both cases. Leclerc and Stroll were both reprimanded for "erratic driving".
Qualifying Qualifying was held on 22 June 2024, at 16:00 local time (UTC+2).
Qualifying report Logan Sargeant impeded Lance Stroll during the first segment of qualifying (Q1), with the former receiving a three-place grid penalty as a result. Oscar Piastri's lap of 1:12.542 during the third segment of qualifying (Q3) was deleted for exceeding track limits at turn 10. In Q3 McLaren's Lando Norris beat championship leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing to pole position by 0.020 seconds.
Qualifying classification DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q314 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1:12.3861:11.8721:11.383121 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda RBPT1:12.3061:11.6531:11.4032344 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:12.1431:11.7921:11.7013463 George RussellMercedes1:12.4561:11.8121:11.7034516 Charles LeclercFerrari1:12.2571:12.0381:11.7315655 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari1:12.4031:11.8741:11.7366710 Pierre GaslyAlpine-Renault1:12.6511:12.0791:11.8577811 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-Honda RBPT1:12.4771:12.0541:12.06111931 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1:12.6911:12.1091:12.12581081 Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes1:12.4601:12.011No time91114 Fernando Alonso1:12.5051:12.128N/A101277 Valtteri BottasKick Sauber-Ferrari1:12.7581:12.227N/A121327Haas-Ferrari1:12.7081:12.310N/A131418 Lance Stroll1:12.8811:12.372N/A141524 Zhou GuanyuKick Sauber-Ferrari1:12.8801:12.738N/A151620Haas-Ferrari1:12.937N/AN/A161722 Yuki TsunodaRB-Honda RBPT1:12.985N/AN/A17183 Daniel RicciardoRB-Honda RBPT1:13.075N/AN/A181923 Alexander AlbonWilliams-Mercedes1:13.153N/AN/A202 Logan SargeantWilliams-Mercedes1:13.509N/AN/A19107% time: 1:17.193Source: Notes – Sergio Pérez received a three-place grid penalty for failing to leave the track with serious mechanical difficulties after significantly damaging the rear wing at the previous round. – Alexander Albon qualified 19th, but was required to start the race from the pit lane due to power unit changes made during parc fermé. – Logan Sargeant received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lance Stroll in Q1. He gained a position as Alexander Albon started the race from the pit lane.
Race The race was held on 23 June 2024, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2), and was run for 66 laps.
Race report
Pole-sitter Lando Norris almost pushed second-placed Max Verstappen off at the start, allowing fourth-placed George Russell, who had a great start, to gain the lead onto the first turn. At the back, Fernando Alonso almost ran into the back of Oscar Piastri, which caused Alonso to leave the track and in the run-off area. Verstappen overtook Russell for the lead with DRS on lap 3. On the same lap, the Ferraris collided with each other, scraping Charles Leclerc's wing endplate, with home hero Carlos Sainz Jr. up to fifth, despite overtaking Leclerc off-track. No further action was taken. Two laps later, Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda battled for position, with Magnussen initially taking the position before Tsunoda took the place back, a few laps then later. Tsunoda, heading to turn 1, was forced off-track by Magnussen, no other further action was taken as well.
On lap 19, Lewis Hamilton and Sainz made minor contact, the third time that no further action was taken due to the battle. Norris, now in 3rd on lap 35, overtook Russell, and in the closing laps, the Ferraris swapped positions, with Leclerc in fifth and Sainz in sixth. The race was won by Verstappen, in which was his seventh victory of the season, second would be pole-sitter Norris, with Hamilton taking the final podium place, with his 198th podium. This would be Verstappen's and Red Bull's last win until the São Paulo Grand Prix, 11 races later, marking his longest winless streak since 2020.
As a consequence, Verstappen extended his lead in the World Drivers' Championship to 69 points over Norris, who overtook Charles Leclerc for second place in the standings, by two points. In the World Constructors' Championship, the top five remained unchanged, with Red Bull moving to 330 points, extending their lead over Ferrari to 60 points. McLaren was 33 points behind Ferrari in third.
Race classification DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredPoints 1 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT 66 1:28:20.227 2 25 2 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 66 +2.219 1 19 344 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 66 +17.7903 15 463 George Russell Mercedes 66 +22.3204 12 5 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 66 +22.709 5 10 655 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 66 +31.0286 8 781 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 66 +33.7609 6 811 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT66 +59.52411 4 910 Pierre GaslyAlpine-Renault 66 +1:02.0257 2 1031 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 66 +1:11.8898 1 1127 Haas-Ferrari 66 +1:19.21513 1214 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes 65 +1 lap10 1324 Zhou GuanyuKick Sauber-Ferrari65 +1 lap15 1418 Lance Stroll 65 +1 lap14 153 Daniel Ricciardo RB-Honda RBPT 65 +1 lap18 1677 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber-Ferrari 65 +1 lap12 1720 Haas-Ferrari 65 +1 lap16 1823 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 65 +1 lap 1922 Yuki Tsunoda RB-Honda RBPT 65 +1 lap17 202 Logan SargeantWilliams-Mercedes 64 +2 laps19Fastest lap: Lando Norris (McLaren-Mercedes) – 1:17.115 (lap 51)Source: Notes – Includes one point for fastest lap. – Nico Hülkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda both received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Their final positions were not affected by the penalties.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points1 Max Verstappen219 12 Lando Norris150 13 Charles Leclerc1484 Carlos Sainz Jr.1165 Sergio Pérez111Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points1 Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT3302 Ferrari2703 McLaren-Mercedes2374 Mercedes151558Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also 2024 Barcelona Formula 2 round 2024 Barcelona Formula 3 round
References
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