Max Verstappen finished tenth in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutchman was on course for a podium finish but dropped back in a hectic final phase and a time penalty. Oscar Piastri took his fifth win of the season.
The 27-year-old Verstappen received his time penalty for appearing to intentionally collide with George Russell in the final phase. Verstappen had shortly before been told to let the Mercedes driver pass due to an earlier incident.
Verstappen cursed and raged over the team radio because he disagreed with that order. The Limburger was already frustrated in his car because he had been switched to the hard tire during a pit stop under a safety car instead of the soft tire.
Verstappen still let Russell pass half a lap later and finished fifth. Due to his time penalty, he dropped back to tenth place. Behind winner Piastri, Lando Norris finished second and Charles Leclerc completed the podium.
In the World Championship standings, Verstappen is now 49 points behind World Championship leader Piastri. The Formula 1 season continues in two weeks with the Canadian Grand Prix.
Verstappen has tactical battle with McLarens
Verstappen had a good start from third place and passed Norris on the outside into second place in the first corner. Verstappen could not keep up with the pace of leader Piastri and was overtaken by Norris again in the thirteenth round.
Red Bull brought Verstappen in shortly afterwards, which created a tactical game of chess with the McLaren drivers, who stayed out longer. Verstappen appeared to be on a two-stop strategy, while the McLarens went for three pit stops.
This resulted in an interesting battle. While Piastri and Norris mainly had to save tires, Verstappen, with a three-stop strategy, had to take this into account less and could drive at a higher pace.
That strategy brought Verstappen to within two seconds of Norris. Verstappen seemed to finish third, but the race was turned upside down in the final phase by a safety car for the stalled Kimi Antonelli.
Verstappen got hard tires after safety car
Verstappen was brought in, but due to the aggressive three-stop strategy, he only had a set of hard tires left. All other drivers could switch to the much faster soft tire.
Things went wrong for Verstappen immediately at the restart. He almost lost control of his car when exiting the last corner, causing Leclerc to sit on his tail. On the straight, Leclerc and Verstappen almost touched, after which the Monegask passed him.
Russell also tried it directly with Verstappen, who then shot off the track and thus stayed ahead of the Mercedes driver. When Verstappen was ordered to let Russell pass, he drove into the Brit at low speed out of frustration, after which he received a ten-second time penalty after the race. As a result, he was classified tenth.