Thanks for joining me. Here is Giles Richards’ report from Barcelona.
Giles Richards' race report
Drivers championship:
1) Oscar Piastri - McLaren - 186
2) Lando Norris - McLaren - 176
3) Max Verstappen - Red Bull - 137
4) George Russell - Mercedes - 111
5) Charles Leclerc - Ferrari - 94
6) Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari - 71
Hugh Molloy emails: “Russell intentionally jumps a chicane at Monaco, drive through penalty. Verstappen intentionally rams Russell, 10 second penalty. In other sports, premeditated violence is a red card and 3 match ban. Weak stewarding.”
Lando Norris: “Oscar drove a very good race today, I just didn’t have the pace to match him. It was a good, fun race, to finish one-two is even better.”
Oscar Piastri: “It was a bit of a surprise to see Max try a three stop but it nearly worked for him. A great weekend overall for us. It wasn’t the best first practise but then we got our stuff together.
“It’s been a great year and this weekend has been the sort of weekend I’ve been looking for. Thanks to the crowd for being out here.”
Piastri takes the acclaim, then thanks the McLaren crew.
Vearstappen is off for an aggressive wander among the garages.
“Does Verstappen always moan?” asks Denis O’Brien. “It seems like he’s always moaning about something!”
The top 10
Oscar Piastri - McLaren
Lando Norris - McLaren
Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
George Russell - Mercedes
Max Verstappen - Red Bull
Nico Hulkenberg - Kick Sauber
Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari
Isack Hadjar - Racing Bulls
Pierre Gasly - Alpine
Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin
Norris is second and Leclerc in third, Russell fourth.
Piastri wins Spanish Grand Prix
The Australian was on pole and finishes in first after a calm performance in the heat!
Updated
Lap 65/66: Rosberg suggests Verstappen crashed into him deliberately …
Lap 64/66: Verstappen wants his position back from Leclerc, thinking the Ferrari man has wronged him. He is told to let Russell through and then the two collide. It’s good fun.
Russell is now fuming, too.
Lap 63/66: Anyway … Piastri is over a second ahead of Norris and the gap is growing. Not long to go.
Lap 62/66: Verstappen is unhappy with Russell, who overcooked it on the turn.
Lap 61/66: Verstappen will not be happy with the hard tyre. He bemoans being slammed into. I am not so sure …
Piastri is at the front and Norris chasing.
Lap 60/66: The safety car is coming in …
Hamilton bemoans the wasting of laps.
We are racing again! Leclerc waves goodbye to Verstappen.
Lap 59/66: This is taking far too long …
Lap 58/66: The drivers are going round, waiting to be unleashed once more, enjoying the brief interlude. The lapped cars go past the safety car.
Lap 57/66: We see Antonelli’s race end and it is a car failure again.
The safety car takes everyone round for another lap.
Lap 56/66: New hard tyres for Verstappen, much to everyone’s surprise. Piastri gets some soft ones.
Verstappen does not know why he is on the hard.
Lap 55/66: YELLOW FLAG! Antonelli goes off the track and is out of the race. We have a safety car! Jude Bellingham looks excited by it.
Pit stops for Piastri and Verstappen.
Lap 54/66: Anyway … Norris is just over three seconds behind Piastri and Verstappen a further two back.
Lap 53/66: “******* IDIOTS” was Verstappen’s response to Lawson and Bearman. The two of them are at it again in the battle for 11th.
Lap 51/66: Norris is having to go through traffic to chase down Piastri.
Lawson and Bearman are involved in another incident, causing problems for Norris and Verstappen issues.
Lap 50/66: Piastri pits and is out once more with a four-second lead. This is full on racing mode for the final 16 laps. No more stops for the frontrunners.
Verstappen says the “car ride is completely broken”.
Lap 49/66: Norris is out quickly and is still just ahead of Verstappen in third. They are both on the soft. Piastri will need to stop again but he is 28 seconds ahead.
Updated
Lap 48/66: Verstappen is in for his third stop. The soft tyres are on …
McLaren are getting ready for the pit. Norris is heading in …
Lap 47/66: No the pit crew are back in the garage.
Ferrari are sending the staff to sort out Hamilton. It was a slow pit stop. Not a good experience for Hamilton who is now a long way behind Russell.
Lap 46/66: Red Bull are preparing for a pit stop … is it Verstappen?
Lap 45/66: At the front, Piastri is just over four seconds ahead of Norris.
Lap 44/66: Alonso pits and returns in 17th, Sainz is 16th. Not a great Spanish grand prix for the home favourites. The two swap places a Alonso overtakes.
Lap 43/66: Rosberg on comms points out how utterly unbearable it is to drive in these hot conditions. I am very much an air con man.
Lap 42/66: Russell pits and gets a new set of soft tyres, and exits in seventh.
Top eight
Oscar Piastri - McLaren
Lando Norris - McLaren
Max Verstappen - Red Bull
Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari
Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
Kimi Antonelli - Mercedes
George Russell - Mercedes
Isack Hadjar - Racing Bulls
Lap 41/66: Leclerc comes out on some lovely new tyres. He is in sixth but will fancy his chances of making headway.
Lap 40/66: Will this be a McLaren one-two? Red Bull are keeping Verstappen informed that the front two are having to push themselves.
Lap 39/66: Russell is cutting into Hamilton’s advantage over him as he looks to chase down his compatriot to take fifth.
Lap 38/66: Norris was eight-tenths quicker than Piastri on the most recent lap. The Brit is picking up some speed.
Lap 37/66: Norris is certainly listening to the garage has he has closed the gap on Piastri to just over three seconds.
Lap 36/66: Verstappen glides past Leclerc to move into third. He is looking quite lively at the moment and is around five seconds behind Norris in second.
Lap 35/66: Norris is told to go faster as McLaren are worried by Leclerc and Verstappen, but mainly the Dutchman.
Lap 34/66: Clive Osbourne emails: “Hello Will, I like your comments so far but I would appreciate a word or two about the Spanish drivers in this race, for the English/Spanish chappies such as myself.”
Alonso is 12th and Sainz is 13th. Not much to say about them thus far …
Lap 33/66: Verstappen has a little moan about the clutch to keep his team interested.
Lap 32/66: Lawson could be in line for a penalty here after that latest incident.
Lap 31/66: Piastri has opened up a five second gap on Norris.
Hamilton say he has no grip and the back is all over the place. This will be a tough final 30-odd laps.
Lawson and Bearman make contact. Lawson seems to think it’s dodgems today.
Updated
Lap 30/66: Verstappen pits! He comes back out in fourth, just about. Hamilton is just behind him.
Lap 29/66: Albon calls it off and retires because his car is rather damaged.
Lap 28/66: Albon has a 10-second time penalty and comes back out.
Verstappen says “it is so hard to drive”. He is not keeping this lead long.
Lap 27/66: Verstappen is around 4.6 seconds ahead. Supposedly he will aim for a three-stop race, if he could keep it down to two, maybe he would have a chance.
Lap 26/66: The stewards will have a look at an incident between Albon and Lawson.
Lap 25/66: Tsunoda enjoys his second pit already.
Lawson goes past Albon but there is a collision, causing debris to fly.
Lap 24/66: Almost everyone is on the medium now, except Verstappen.
Lap 23/66: PIastri is in and out of the pit … and he comes back out just behind Verstappen. That will not worry McLaren because the Red Bull tyres are old.
Current top six:
Max Verstappen - Red Bull
Oscar Piastri - McLaren
Lando Norris - McLaren
Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari
George Russell - Mercedes
Lap 22/66: Norris is back out in third, around nine seconds behind Verstappen but with lovely fresher tyres. Verstappen, it should be said, is 17.5 seconds behind Piastri.
Lap 21/66: Russell comes in after a slowing down in his speeds. He is back out in seventh and ready to get moving once more.
Norris is coming in …
Lap 20/66: Piastri’s lead at the front is growing. He is looking to get to lap 25 before putting. Can the Australian keep this smooth ride going until then?
Lap 19/66: Both Ferraris are on the mediums now. It’s a tactic feast of fun this race.
Updated
Lap 18/66: Verstappen is up to fourth, aided by the pit stops of Hamilton and now Leclerc. He then overtakes Antonelli.
Lap 17/66: Hamilton gets a new set of medium tyres. Will it make a difference?
His teammate Leclerc is in third but is a long way back. Ferrari suggests he should push more, leaving Leclerc to reply that he is already.
Lap 16/66: Piastri is not letting Norris get at his lead, looking calm at the front by himself, over four seconds ahead.
Hamilton gets the wink for a stop now.
Lap 15/66: Could this mean Verstappen will do a three-stop race? It’s a risk but it might just work …
Lap 14/66: Verstappen pits for a tyre change and comes back out in eighth.
Lap 13/66: After a couple of nibbles, Norris flies past Verstappen going into the first corner. Norris will be looking to chase down Piastri, who is 4.5 seconds ahead.
Lap 12/66: Verstappen is looking a little slow on these tyres and is playing defensively.
Lap 11/66: Norris is less than half a second behind Verstappen. Will he try an overtake?
Verstappen is complaining about a lack of grip.
Lap 10/66: Hamilton is told to swap with Leclerc and the man from Monaco breezes past him into fourth.
There is plenty of early pitting. Good luck keeping the tyres go for enough time.
Lap 9/66: Leclerc goes for an over take at turn one but fails to get past Hamilton.
Tsunoda pits to get rid of the medium compound tyre.
Lap 8/66: Norris is chipping away at Verstappen, the gap down to around 1.5 seconds.
Leclerc v Hamilton is the most interesting battle at the moment. What will team orders be?
Lap 7/66: Lerclec is putting plenty of pressure on Hamilton and I imagine will almost inevitably go past him.
Lap 6/66: Russell does not sound too happy with his tyres. Wolff has told him to “concentrate”.
Lap 5/66: Everyone seems to have found their place at the moment, not willing to push too much on this hot track.
Lap 4/66: The lead at the front is about 2 seconds for Piastri over Verstappen. The McLaren is looking comfortable in the early stages.
Lap 3/66: Verstappen is right up behind Piastri and letting him know he is ready to overtake him if the Australian commits a mistake. The Red Bull man, however, knows he can’t put too much exertion on his tyres.
Updated
Lap 2/66: Hulkenberg started down in 15th but has moved himself up to 10th. Not a bad start.
It’s been lively from top to bottom on the grid with plenty of movement.
Lap 1/66: Piastri gets away well but Verstappen goes ahead of Norris. It’s good news for the Australian at the front, though. George Russell has a bad start and is overtaken by the Ferraris.
Lights out
And away we go!
It’s a two-stop kind of day in Catalonia. Who will work them best?
The entire England squad is in attendance. Bukayo Saka did not fancy a chat but Dan Burn was very nice.
Harry Kane is at his first grand prix. He loves Lando Norris, so that’s nice.
Updated
As I said before, today is going to all about the tyres on this hot track. Who can manage the situation the best?
Everyone likes some BS.
It is very hot in Barcelona. Could be a big day for the tyres, in my opinion.
For context, Sainz’s girlfriend is Scottish.
Sky asked Carlos Sainz if he likes haggis. He does not.
This will be a 19-man race after Lance Stroll withdrew with a wrist injury. The Canadian qualified 14th in Barcelona but it’s been decided he requires surgery after experiencing discomfort in his hand and wrist.
Failure is very important, supposedly, which is great news for this blogger.
I’ve heard little else …
Preamble
This feels significant! Oscar Piastri is on pole after a composed qualifying session. The Australian is leading the Championship and will be looking to open up the gap at the top on his teammate Lando Norris, who won last time out in Monaco.
Here is how the grid lines up:
1) Oscar Piastri - McLaren
2) Lando Norris - McLaren
3) Max Verstappen - Red Bull
4) George Russell - Mercedes
5) Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari
6) Kimi Antonelli - Mercedes
7) Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
8) Pierre Gasly - Alpine
9) Isack Hadjar - Racing Bulls
10) Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin
11) Alex Albon - Williams
12) Gabriel Bortoleto - Kick Sauber
13) Liam Lawson - Racing Bulls
14) Ollie Bearman - Haas
15) Nico Hulkenberg - Kick Sauber
16) Esteban Ocon - Haas
17) Carlos Sainz - Williams
18) Franco Colapinto - Alpine
19) Yuki Tsunoda - Red Bull
Lights out 2pm BST.
