Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix Prediction: Can Norris withstand Verstappen's pressure?

With this week's Spanish Grand Prix, a triple race weekend on European soil begins, which also includes the Austrian Grand Prix and the Great British Grand Prix. Right at the beginning of the announcement, we can face the alleged bitter truth, which is the return of Red Bull's dominance due to track configurations that are convenient for them. In the last race in Montreal, the tactical error of the McLaren cost Lando Norris the victory, and in Ferrari, it is better than they did not even appear on the grid. Both drivers dropped out in the second qualifying round, reliability issues for Charles Leclerc and a poor drive from Carlos Sainz saw both retire from Sunday's race. The team from Maranello must have analyzed in detail where so many problems and loss of pace came from because a new threat to fight at the top of the standings appeared in Canada. Mercedes are pleased especially with George Russell, who won the pole position in Montreal. In Spain during the practices and qualifications we saw that Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari can all hope for a good result since they all showed satisfactory performances.

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is one of the most complete in the world. In addition to the straight sections, it boasts all possible types of turns, and some of them, such as turn 3 and the combination of turns 13 and 14 that lead to the main start-finish straight, are passed at very high speeds. The lateral forces acting on the tires, especially on the left side of the car, are particularly high, partly because nine of the 14 corners are to the right. For many years, this track hosted winter testing for the teams and also marked the start of the European part of the season, which meant the arrival of the first major upgrades of the year. Recent changes to pre-season testing and the calendar have changed that, but Barcelona is still a demanding test that all teams are looking at with a lot of trepidation because - if a car is competitive here, it should be quick on all kinds of tracks. This year's race is three weeks later than 2023 so it could be hotter and that could add another factor to tire management. Such a thermal issue could put the C3 component at a disadvantage, and last year that compound was quite competitive even in the race, chosen by 16 out of 20 drivers for the first part of the race.

Lando Norris did a fantastic lap in the final round of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. The McLaren driver won his second pole position in his career, surpassing Max Verstappen in Red Bull and the Mercedes duo, who will start the race from the second starting row. Lewis Hamilton was a little faster than his teammate, so he will start third, and George Russell fourth. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz dreamed of pole position at his home race, but at the end of qualifying he finished only in sixth place, behind his teammate Charles Leclerc. A pleasant surprise was Pierre Gasly, who qualified in seventh position.

Even though Ferrari were hoping for much better starting positions after the qualifications, Leclerc and Sainz will start from 5th and 6th positions. However, during the whole weekend the performances of both drivers were good, Ferrari showed that they overcome the problems they had in Canada and now are again back in the race for the podium.

OUR PREDICTION: Charles Leclerc in the top 3