Alonso and Sainz kneel in an unremarkable Spanish GP

It cannot surprise anyone that the Spanish GP is boring for another year. The drivers know the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya track so well that even the elimination of the last chicane or the constant threat of rain did not provide a minimum of spectacle in a series of laps in which Max Verstappen won from start to finish. So much so that he even got two warnings for exceeding the track limit because he got bored. Next to him on the podium, lewis hamiltonwho commanded the resurrection of Mercedes, and George Russell who confirmed the revival of this new car.

It was not the weekend of the Spanish pilots. Nor Carlos Sainzwho started second and finished fifth, by no means a Fernando Alonso who was eighth, they had the opportunity not only to deny the victory to Verstappen, but also to talk about the podium positions. They neither succeeded in Ferrari’s strategy (zero surprise), nor could they push those who aim to be their big rivals this year. Mercedes, whose change in car philosophy has already paid off in this race, ended up in Montmelo as the only one able to chase down Verstappen. Good for them, bad for the others, starting with Ferrari and Aston Martin who gave in to the black arrows.

There were no major shocks at the start, at least as far as the Spaniards were concerned. Carlos Sainz tried to pass Verstappen who was enjoying one of his easiest races in a long time out of the first corner, which coupled with several Mercedes being a point above expectations later made the Madrid man a meat cannon.

And that’s it neither strategies nor terrible rains, and even less the clean performance of the car, prevented the podium from having an un-Spanish role. It was a race where both Sainz and Fernando Alonso suffered. The Asturian, the great idol of a passionate audience with more than 125,000 spectators ‘in situ’ who were a little cold to the final result, suffered from the start not so much because of his performance, but because what was lifted from the wall was not helped by his own position. Both Alonso and Stroll decided to play a soft-soft-hard strategy, which should initially give them an advantage in the first relays of the race. Nothing more, as both Sergio Pérez and the surprising Yuki Tsunoda put the Spaniard in trouble early on.

without incident

While Verstappen went inexorably towards another victory, Sainz suffered from the push of Mercedes. It took Lewis Hamilton very little time to usurp second place from Madrid, who ended up giving up not only the seven-time champions, but also the unstoppable Russell and Sergio Pérez who salvaged the furniture after another woeful Saturday. The Ferrari man could do no more than score points, something his team-mate failed to achieve after twelfth place.

There was news at Aston Martin. Not so much because none of his drivers were on the podium, after Alonso achieved his worst result of the season, but because Stroll finished ahead of the Spaniard. Alonso could do little or nothing except take the car to the garage without mechanical failure. He didn’t even attack his partner, to the extent that he radioed the boss’s son: he won’t challenge the sixth place, nor will he force him to push more than he should. To highlight the action of Alonso in this race, his overtaking of Esteban Ocon, who demonstrated his bad skills for the umpteenth time when he threw his Alpine teammate off the track at the exit of the ‘pit lane’. A pitcher of cold water for thousands of Spanish fans, who saw the worst result of their idol this year in a race that will never go down in history.

It’s not good news for Montmelo promoters that year after year it’s one of the events expected to be boring. With those responsible for the next Madrid GP on the lookout (they have already met in Barcelona with those responsible for the event in the Spanish capital) with an eye on 2026, the Spanish GP has once again shown that, as much as the engineers love it and the drivers, it is not one of the the most attractive terms. And that, no matter how hard Alonso and Sainz (more the one from Oviedo than the one from Madrid), is not enough.