Spanish Grand Prix: Hamilton extends his lead, Leclerc misses the podium again

Scuderia Ferrari

Topping the podium at the Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) pipped Max Verstappen to the post (Red Bull), just as he did a week ago in Portugal. However, Charles Leclerc was unable to break into the top three and join them.

So close, yet so far. Max Verstappen made a strong start to the race and held the lead ahead of Lewis Hamilton for the majority of the course. However, as the final few laps played out, he was unable to stop the world champion from overtaking him. Knocked down into second place the Dutchman watched on as the Brit crossed the line to claim his third victory, out of just four Grand Prix races this season.

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With Verstappen putting up a strong defence, the British driver had to call upon one of Mercedes’s clever tactics, making a second pit stop around 20 laps from the finish, in order to get ahead. It was not all bad news for Verstappen though, as thanks to his soft tyres he scored the fastest lap of the Grand Prix (1’18″149).

A good weekend for Charles Leclerc

Starting in fourth place on the grid, the Monégasque took off and raced past Valterri Bottas (Mercedes), maintaining his lead on the Fin for quite some time. Unfortunately, he could not keep his opponent at bay, as after a late pit stop on the 29th lap, Charles Leclerc watched Bottas overtake him not once, but twice, leaving him back where he started in fourth place at the end of the race.

Current world champion, Lewis Hamilton (94 points) maintains his place at the top of the leaderboard, widening the gap between Max Verstappen (80 points) in second place, and Valtteri Bottas in third (47 points). Charles Leclerc sits in fifth place (40 points) just below Lando Norris (41 points). The next Grand Prix will take place in Monaco in two weeks time.