Verstappen equals Prost and Alonso in the podium list, Hamilton records his first podium finish of the season and Norris records McLaren’s first podium at Catalunya since 2011. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix.
VERSTAPPEN WINS THE 2024 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
For the third season in a row, Max Verstappen took victory at the Spanish Grand Prix. This was the 61st Grand Prix victory of Verstappen’s career. Having won the last race in Canada, this was the first time since the Japanese and Chinese Grands Prix that Verstappen took two wins in a row.
Verstappen won the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix by 2.219 seconds – the smallest winning margin at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya since Verstappen claimed his first win at the track by 0.616 seconds in 2016.
Verstappen became the fourth driver – after Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – to record as many as three successive Spanish Grand Prix wins and the third – after Schumacher and Hamilton – to win the event on as many as four occasions.
With his win, Verstappen recorded his 106th podium finish, equalling Alain Prost and Fernando Alonso for fourth on the all-time list of most top three finishes in Formula 1.
Verstappen’s 2024 Spanish Grand Prix marked Red Bull’s 120th Grand Prix win. They are the fourth team to reach the milestone after Ferrari (at the 1999 Australian Grand Prix), McLaren (at the 1999 British Grand Prix) and Mercedes (at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix).
This was Verstappen’s eighth top three finish at Catalunya. The track equals the Red Bull Ring as the circuit at which Verstappen has recorded the most top three finishes.
ON THE PODIUM
For the fifth time in the last six races Max Verstappen was joined in the top two by Lando Norris.
Norris’ second place finish marked the first time that he has finished in the top seven at the Spanish Grand Prix.
As a result of his second place finish, Norris moves up to second place in the Drivers’ Championship. It’s the highest he has ever sat in the standings.
Norris’ podium finish marked the first time that a team other than Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari finished on the podium at the Spanish Grand Prix since 2013. It was McLaren’s first podium at the Spanish Grand Prix since 2011, when both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished in the top three.
Lewis Hamilton joined Verstappen and Norris on the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix podium. This was the trio’s third podium appearance together, having last finished in the top three together – in the same order – at the 2023 British Grand Prix.
Hamilton recorded his first podium finish of the 2024 season, making him the first driver to record top three results in 18 different Formula 1 seasons. He also extended his record for the most consecutive seasons in which a driver has taken a podium finish. This was Hamilton’s first podium finish since the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.
This was Hamilton’s 12th podium finish at the Spanish Grand Prix. That saw him equal Michael Schumacher’s record for the most podium results at the event.
As a result of his latest podium finish, Hamilton becomes the third oldest British driver to finish on the podium in Formula 1, moving ahead of Reg Parnell in that particular list. Nigel Mansell and Graham Hill are the only older British drivers to have finished in the top three in an F1 race.
IN THE POINTS
With fourth place, George Russell finished in the top five for a third consecutive race. It is the first time he’s recorded three top five results in a row since last year’s Miami, Monaco and Spanish Grands Prix.
Starting where he finished, this was the first time that Russell did not finish in a better position than where he started at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc finished fifth in the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix. His DNF last time out in Canada and his fifth place in Spain are the only times so far this year that Leclerc has finished outside of the top four.
Finishing sixth, Carlos Sainz maintained his 100% points-finishing rate at his home event. He remains in a group of only four drivers who’ve scored points on every appearance at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – the others being Alain Prost, Michael Andretti and Ralph Firman.
With Leclerc fifth and Sainz sixth, this was the first time Ferrari saw both drivers score points in the Spanish Grand Prix since 2021. It was the team’s first double top six result at the event since 2019.
After two successive DNFs, Sergio Perez crossed the finish line for the first time since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Having finished eighth at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, the Miami Grand Prix remains the last time Perez finished in the top seven.
Alpine recorded the exact same result result as they did at the previous race, with Pierre Gasly finishing ninth and Esteban Ocon tenth. Alpine’s latest points saw them move ahead of Haas in the Constructors’ Championship standings.
2024 is the third season in a row in which Alpine have scored points with both cars at the Spanish Grand Prix.
This was the fourth consecutive season in which Ocon scored a point at the Spanish Grand Prix.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Nico Hulkenberg missed out on points with an 11th place finish in the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix. It is the fifth time in the last seven races that the Haas driver has finished 11th.
This was Hulkenberg’s best result at the Spanish Grand Prix since finishing sixth in 2017.
With Hulkenberg 11th and Magnussen 17th, Haas failed to score a point at the Spanish Grand Prix for a fifth consecutive season.
He missed out on a points finish at home but Fernando Alonso became the first driver to cross the finish line on 18 occasions at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He overtook Michael Schumacher as the driver to have finished the most races at the track.
2024 is the first time since 2021 that Alonso failed to score a point at his home race.
With Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda finishing 15th and 19th respectively, RB failed to score any points for only the second time in the last eight races.
Losing four places over the course of the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas was the only driver to lose more than two places from where he started in the race. Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez were the only drivers to gain more than two places, each making up three positions.
ALL 20 DRIVERS FINISH THE RACE
For the second time in the last two years, all 20 drivers crossed the finish line at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix. For the second year in a row, it was Logan Sargeant who finished in 20th place.
With Sargeant 20th and Alex Albon 18th, this was the first time in Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s history that neither Williams driver finished in the top 17.
The race passed without any yellow flags or Safety Car periods. 2021 remains the last time the Safety Car made an appearance at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The 2024 Spanish Grand Prix is the second race of the season, after the Bahrain Grand Prix, at which all 20 drivers finished the race.
