Formula 1 2023 Spanish Grand Prix results

After what seemed like an endless string of street circuits and semi-permanent venues monopolising the opening part of the 2023 calendar, Formula 1 went back to basics in Barcelona.
Under its previous configuration, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya had been extensively mined for data amid thousands of miles in testing down the years, but a reversion to the classic layout offered a slightly ...

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The world championship leader raised some smiles in second practice at the Spanish Grand Prix when his response to a radio message about his run plan regarded a ringtone that could be heard from the garage.
Verstappen was able to recognise it as the one used by Red Bull's motorsport advisor Marko.
"Someone's phone is going," said Verstappen. "Is that Helmut's?"
The team's subsequent ...

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The pair endured a difficult opening day of practice at Barcelona as Mercedes finally got some proper running of its new W14 upgrade package. 
The struggles even left Hamilton feeling that he would not make it through to Q3 in qualifying because the car was so difficult to drive. 
But a late-night simulator session for Schumacher back at Mercedes' Brackley factory on Friday helped ...

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The Silverstone-based squad has been Red Bull’s closest rival for much of this season but endured its most difficult outing of the year at Barcelona. 
Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso did not have the pace on the soft early on to take the fight to Mercedes and Ferrari, and in the end they come home a distant sixth and seventh. 
Team principal Mike Krack believed his squad’s ...

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The upgraded W14 proved effective in the warmer race temperatures to enable Russell to jump from 12th on the grid to third place to complete a double podium behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Rain, which had hit the track during Saturday practice, had threatened to disrupt the event but never materialised. However, Russell did briefly ask his race engineer Marcus Dudley at half-distance if any ...

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The car has regularly been fast over one lap, which was evident once again at the Spanish GP, where Carlos Sainz qualified second.
However, the team continues to struggle in races, with the car behaving differently from stint to stint.
In Barcelona, Sainz slipped down to fifth place at the flag, while from a pitlane start following his qualifying issues,  Charles Leclerc could not rise ...

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Mercedes persisted with its troubled 2022 car concept in the belief that dialling out porpoising would unlock its true potential on the new W14.
But it turned up at Bahrain winter testing further behind Red Bull than it finished 2022, leading to a tough decision to change the concept of its floor, sidepods and suspension mid-season, with the revamped W14 debuting at the Monaco Grand Prix.
It ...

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Verstappen dominated the race after fending off a first-corner challenge from Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.
Mercedes had the second-fastest car in the race, and Lewis Hamilton and George Russell filled the podium spots, ahead of the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who rose from 11th to finish fourth.
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Hamilton's current Mercedes deal runs out at the end of this season, prompting traditional speculation on whether the 38-year-old will re-commit to the team that propelled him to six of his seven world championships or walk away from the series.
It even prompted wild speculation about a possible move to Ferrari, which was quickly refuted by all parties.
Both Hamilton and Wolff have regularly ...

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Alonso started only eighth after two mistakes in qualifying compromised his session and gained only one position to finish seventh in the race behind team-mate Lance Stroll.
This marked the second time in 2023 that he hasn't been on the podium for Aston Martin.
"We didn't have the pace, so that's the biggest problem," Alonso noted.
"It was not that we were unlucky or on differing ...

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On lap 56 of 66 in a round dominated by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, Alfa Romeo racer Zhou used DRS to challenge Tsunoda for ninth place around the outside into the Turn 1 right-hander.
But as the corner transitioned into Turn 2, Zhou appeared to jink his machine to the left to then take to the escape road before he rejoined the circuit several car lengths behind Tsunoda.
The FIA stewards ...

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The German manufacturer saw Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finish second and third at Barcelona behind race winner Max Verstappen, moving the squad up to second in the constructors' championship standings.
But a few hours after the race, the team was notified that team members may have breached the regulations in the post-race parc ferme zone that is created in the pitlane.
The FIA ...

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McLaren driver Norris qualified a season-best third in Spain, but his hopes of a points finish were curtailed on the first lap when he clashed with Hamilton's Mercedes at Turn 2 and had to pit at the end of the opening tour.
Hamilton escaped without significant damage and went on to finish second.
Speaking after he was eventually classified 17th, Norris stressed that even before the contact ...

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Sainz qualified second for his home race, but as has been the case in previous races, Ferrari's comparatively poor race pace made him slide backwards, his Ferrari struggling with the bumpy and fast nature of the Barcelona circuit as it was outclassed by Mercedes on tyre management.
After an early first pitstop, Sainz went from the soft onto the hard tyres, which allowed Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton ...

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After qualifying a disappointing 12th, Russell confirmed Mercedes' improved race pace from Friday practice to move up to third behind winner Max Verstappen and team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Russell and Hamilton used their superior tyre management, which allowed them to avoid the hard tyre on their two-stopper, to defeat Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who dropped from second to fifth.
According to ...

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At the start, polesitter Verstappen swung right after leaving the line to cut off the momentum of fellow front-row starter Carlos Sainz, but the Ferrari – on soft tyres versus the mediums on the Red Bull – got a slipstream and attacked on the outside line at Turn 1.
Verstappen was therefore forced to run very deep as he defended hard from the inside line but kept enough of his car on the ...

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...

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Pierre Gasly repeated Ocon's performance in the principality by being fourth fastest on a day when others didn't get it right, although he was then demoted six places for impeding both Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen.
Ocon meanwhile didn't have a perfect lap in Q3, but was still seventh fastest before gaining a spot on Sunday's grid thanks to his team-mate's penalty.
"It's awesome," said ...

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Steiner spoke out against the decision of the stewards at the Monaco GP to impose a time penalty on Nico Hulkenberg for an opening lap collision. 
With Steiner feeling that Hulkenberg did not make any untoward contact, he said the time had come for the appointment of full-time professional stewards. 
"Every professional sport has got professionals being referees and stuff like ...

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Norris qualified third for the Barcelona race behind pole-winner Max Verstappen and home hero Carlos Sainz – his best qualifying result of 2023 by four positions (his next best was seventh in Azerbaijan). 
The Briton said afterwards the result left him “shocked” as he had thought “it was going to be tough to get out of Q1”, and outlined his belief that the Barcelona layout ...

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Alonso's problems started when he ran wide onto the gravel at the final corner as he started his first lap in Q1 in Barcelona.
He recovered to get out of that session in 12th and then took eighth in Q2. With the car in a better state for Q3, Alonso believed he could still have made the front row, but a mistake on his final lap consigned him to ninth.
The team managed to gradually repair the ...

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Russell struggled with bouncing in Barcelona's high-speed corners which made his Mercedes W14 even trickier to drive on the limit, with the Briton reporting a belief that there was something wrong with his tyres early in Q1. 
"The car wasn't feeling okay every single lap of the session," said Russell when asked by Motorsport.com about the car's behaviour. "We made some small changes from ...

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The Monegasque driver endured a difficult Saturday as he struggled with a mysterious problem on his SF-23 that left him getting dumped out in Q1. 
Speaking after the session, Leclerc said the issue seemed worse on left-hand corners. 
"During the red flag, I was at 70km/h and there was just no warning," said Leclerc, who ended up qualifying 19th.  
"The left-hand corners ...

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Yet his dash to pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix was made that bit easier again when the only other driver to top a qualifying shootout this term, Charles Leclerc, was knocked out in Q1. Two more big scalps were claimed in Q2 as Sergio Perez and George Russell were also eliminated.
His path looking clearer, Verstappen was left to bolt to a 1m12.727s effort with some eight minutes of Q3 ...

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Having started last in Monaco after a crash in Q1, Perez again had a torrid time in Barcelona, scraping through to Q2 in 15th place and then going off into the gravel at Turn 5 late in Q2.
Although he had time for another run, he struggled to get his tyres in the right window and could only qualify 11th, 10 place behind team-mate Max Verstappen.
"Unfortunately, the off that he had in ...

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The Spaniard managed to put revisions to the SF-23 to good use at Barcelona as he emerged as Max Verstappen’s closest challenger for pole position. 
But while the performance at such an aero-critical track bodes well for showing that Ferrari has found gains, Sainz believes that the nature of the Barcelona track has not actually played to its best potential. 
He thinks that the ...

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The German manufacturer had the first run of its upgraded F1 challenger on a proper circuit in Spain this weekend, after the parts appeared originally in Monaco. 
And as Lewis Hamilton put himself in contention for a front row start, before a collision with team-mate George Russell damaged his car and compromised his later form, Mercedes says it has taken huge encouragement from what it ...

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Red Bull's Max Verstappen will start the race from pole position ahead of Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz, with McLaren ace Lando Norris lining up third after his best qualifying result of the season.
Charles Leclerc will take the start from 19th after getting eliminated in Q1 on Saturday.
When is the F1 Spanish Grand Prix?
The 2023 F1 Spanish GP will begin at 3pm local time (+1 GMT) at ...

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Verstappen will start ahead of Sainz and Lando Norris (McLaren) after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.
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Spanish Grand Prix qualifying results: Verstappen on pole from ...

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But, as the team radio messages sent to both drivers prior to the incident revealed, the unnecessary incident was the result of simple miscommunication in the heat of the moment during a complicated end to Q2.
Both drivers had been released from the pits on a slightly different run plan, with Russell scheduled to finish his final push effort as Hamilton started his.
But Russell was forced to ...

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Gasly initially ran to the fourth-fastest time in Q3, with his 1m12.816s flying lap placing him 0.544s off Red Bull's runaway polesitter Max Verstappen.
That effort might have marked Gasly's best-starting position since he lined up in second place for the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix.
However, he has been hit with two lots of three-place grid penalties after being found guilty of blocking ...

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Sainz ended up as Max Verstappen’s closest challenger for pole position in qualifying at Barcelona on Saturday, where Perez was eliminated in Q2 in the second Red Bull.
Perez could not match Verstappen’s pace or confidence on the slippery track surface – doused in rain during FP3 and still greasy when Q1 got going amid spots of rain falling at the southern end of the circuit.
After ...

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The Briton finished 11th in FP1 on Friday, which he says was "probably one of our worst FP1s of the season in terms of pace," before going on to finish 14th in FP2.
He improved to 10th in a rain-hit FP3 on Saturday morning before finishing third in qualifying, despite saying he "wouldn't say we felt anywhere near this good."
Asked whether he was surprised by the result, Norris said: "I would ...

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Alonso ran wide through the gravel on his out-lap at the start of the session, damaging the floor sufficiently to make the car tricky to drive for the remainder of qualifying.
Thereafter, he noted that it handled "weirdly" but the Spaniard remains convinced that he was still on target for the front row before he made a mistake and ran wide on his final lap.
"P2, probably even with the floor ...

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Near the end of Q2, Russell and Hamilton were starting flying laps when the former moved to the inside of the pit straight to grab a tow from Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, and then moved back onto the racing line.
But Russell appeared to be unaware that Hamilton behind him was also on a flyer and was about to overtake him on the outside when his team-mate inadvertently closed the door on ...

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Ferrari's qualifying bid was derailed by team-mate Charles Leclerc's undiagnosed car issue that got the Monegasque driver eliminated in Q1 for the first time this season.
But in front of his Spanish fans, Sainz had a much stronger afternoon by taking second place behind the untouchable Red Bull of world champion Max Verstappen.
"It was very good today, I felt like I was driving very well," ...

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In a briefly red-flagged Q1 session, Leclerc reported a problem with his rear tyres over the radio as he struggled to hook up a solid qualifying lap.
After fumbling his first flyer, Leclerc was under pressure to secure a Q2 spot in the final seconds of the session, but he could do no better than 19th while team-mate Carlos Sainz sailed through in fourth.
Afterwards, Leclerc said he didn't ...

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Spots of rain falling ahead of Q1 led to that segment featuring many offs and a red flag, with Fernando Alonso picking up damage in an incident that meant he was not a pole threat.
In the other Red Bull, Sergio Perez was knocked out in Q2 after he too went off the track in what were tricky conditions throughout the session.
In a fully dry Q3, Verstappen was the sole runner to take new softs ...

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The Barcelona running is significant because Pirelli only has one more session with its 2024 tyres – after the British Grand Prix at Silverstone with Red Bull among those taking part – before the FIA makes a final call on whether to push ahead with the original plan to run without blankets next season.
The rules currently say that blankets will be retained for 2024, and the decision on ...

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Teams were braced for inclement weather, with thunderstorms fast approaching Barcelona from the Pyrenees in the north.
The session started on dry-weather tyres, but spots of rain were soon reported around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
That completely disturbed the teams' usual run programmes in FP3, with all drivers rushing out of the pits at the drop of the green flag to get some ...

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