The team's head back to continental Europe after a jaunt to Canada where victory saw Verstappen extend his lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship to 56 points.
2024 Spanish Grand Prix
Sunday 23 June 2024 – 15:00
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
The teams head back to continental Europe after a jaunt to Canada where Max Verstappen bounced back with a win at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
While the victory saw Verstappen extend his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship to 56 points, his teams lead at the top of the Contractor’s standings was cut with a poor showing from Sergio Perez seeing Red Bull’s lead down to 49 points.
The season is fast heating up with Mercedes finding some form while both Ferrari and McLaren remain a threat.
To Win Race Outright
Max Verstappen 11/20 | Lando Norris 5/1 | Charles LeClerc 8/1 | Sergio Perez 16/1 | Oscar Piastri 20/1 | Lewis Hamilton 25/1
Previous Race – Canada
Canada proved to be one of the more competitive races of the season with less than five seconds between race winner Max Verstappen and fourth-placed Lewis Hamilton.
The race was an incident-packed one with a number of safety car periods mainly due to wet weather conditions.
A crash for Logan Sargeant brought on the first safety car of the day with Max Verstappen the big beneficiary of the safety car period as he moved into first place following the restart and the world champ would remain in first for the rest of the race.
Behind Verstappen, there was an almighty battle between George Russell, who had started the race in pole position, and Lando Norris. Norris would eventually win the duel and claim second while Russell took the final podium spot.
Behind them, Hamilton and Oscar Piastri, who were in the running for a podium position, duked it out with Hamilton claiming fourth and Piastri fifth, with the latter hampered by degrading tyres. The final berth in the ‘top 6’ was taken by veteran Fernando Alonso.
There was another old-timer in the ‘top 10’ with Daniel Ricciardo claiming eighth as he brought his car home behind Lance Stroll, while the final two points scoring positions went to the twin Alpines of Pierre Gasly (ninth) and Esteban Ocon (tenth).
Defence really can be the best offence ⚔️
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 18, 2024
George holds on to the lead as Max snatches at chances to get past in 2022! #F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/67sCebaWl3
Track – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
The Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona offers the F1 field a great blend of high and low-speed corners which really tests the reliability of the faster cars on track.
While these corners require dexterous braking, they don’t provide much room for overtaking as they are some of the narrowest on the calendar. As such, pole position will be a key factor here.
Drivers will face a total of 16 turns with a massive straight on the way to the start/finish line. The circuit underwent some changes last year with a widening of the run-off area in Turn 1, including 70 more metres of gravel plus a slope of 5%, and a new fence protecting Turns 1 and 2 to improve the safety of drivers.
Last year’s race was won by Max Verstappen – his second in succession – while it was a good race for Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton claiming second and George Russel taking third.
The weather for this weekend is looking decent enough at the time of writing with a few spells of drizzle forecast for Sunday morning but a rather clear afternoon in store, while the qualifying sessions are set to be dry.
Value Bet
Lewis Hamilton – Podium Finish – Yes 7/2
Hamilton was my value bet for Canada and he just missed out on the podium finishing fourth behind teammate George Russell by just over half a second.
I’m going to back the veteran ‘Brit again here. Mercedes have found some real pace in recent weeks and Hamilton has a very tidy record in Spain winning the 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions of the race, while finishing second at last year’s event.
Definitely worth a strike with the current odds on offer!
To Win Race Outright
Max Verstappen 11/20
I went with Lando Norris in Canada and while he did deliver a second place finish, he was unable to usurp Verstappen who took race honors at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Even though there’s not much value here, I am gonna have a strike on the reigning world champion. He’s got a very good recent record in Spain winning last year’s event while claiming pole and the fastest lap.
I’m expecting another solid showing from the Red Bull ace at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
