Top Takeaways from Barcelona: Red Bull Pays a Hefty Price, Ferrari and Mercedes Chase Stability, Underdogs Deliver

‍Red Bull’s all-around regrettable weekend

It is safe to say that the biggest story from Spain has come from Red Bull. Their overall execution across the weekend was less than ideal, culminating in poor outcomes for both of their drivers, and the team as a whole. 

Yuki Tsunoda’s struggles started in free practice, where he was about 0.6s behind Verstappen across all three sessions, and they only continued in Qualifying. Despite several Q3 appearances in the past, he was the slowest of the field in Barcelona. Regarding his performance, Tsunoda said,

“The lap I had in Q1 I was pretty happy with it, the confidence was there but the grip itself is not following at all. It's a pretty tough situation.”

Tsunoda’s performance across the triple-header as a whole has been less than ideal. The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix–during which he climbed from a pitlane start up into points positions–was his best weekend of the three, but he has otherwise been scoreless. With that, his tenure at Red Bull is playing out much like that of Lawson, Perez and others before him. His teammate, Max Verstappen, pointed out this very fact to Dutch media, saying

“Yuki isn't a pancake. This [with the 2nd Red Bull driver] has been going on for a long time.”

Such internal struggles were not the only thing holding Red Bull back this weekend, as their strategic calls left some questions. Two moments in particular come to mind. First is pitting Verstappen for hard tires under the safety car when keeping him out on his used mediums may have let him stay closer to the McLarens for the last five laps of the race. Second is telling him to let George Russell through for an incident that the FIA stewards later said would have been ruled “no further action”. Of course, it is easy to judge in hindsight; but limiting such situations could be key in helping Red Bull find steady ground in a championship that is getting increasingly challenging for them.

Yet by far their biggest stumbling block this week was Max Verstappen himself.

His frustrations in the finishing laps of the race led to a completely unnecessary and dangerous moment with Russell. Verstappen seemed to slow down and make room for Russell to pass, as per Red Bull’s instructions, only to accelerate and make contact instead. The move earned him a 10-second penalty and three penalty points, bringing him to a total 11 out of the 12 that would trigger a one-race ban. Afterwards, Verstappen refused to confirm or deny whether the move was intentional, further adding fuel to the fire.

All in all, neither the Red Bull drivers nor the pit wall had a good weekend in Spain. The team finished the race with a single point, and the triple-header by dropping to fourth place in the Constructors Championship, behind Ferrari. From here, they will certainly be looking forward to a weekend off to regroup before things heat up again in Canada. 

Ferrari and Mercedes look back on a series of missed chances

Red Bull, however, is not alone in their struggles this season. In fact, of the top four teams, McLaren is the only one who has not faced some sort of performance issues yet. This week they continued to dominate on-track, even despite the flexi-wings directive that many were hoping would even out the field a little bit. Meanwhile, both Ferrari and Mercedes have been doing good but not great, as the gap between McLaren and the rest of the field only grows wider.

Ferrari’s biggest weakness has been their qualifying pace, or rather the lack thereof. Charles Leclerc, famous for his Saturday speed, has yet to be on pole this year. The last time he has gone this long without pole position was 2020, the only year of his Ferrari tenure in which he never qualified first. While it seems like Ferrari is making strides in terms of race pace– Leclerc was able to stay consistent with the McLarens for a good portion of the Spanish Grand Prix–in a season where the field has gotten so tight, Saturday’s results can make all the difference on Sunday.

The team did get fortunate with the safety car and Verstappen not having viable medium or soft tires for the final run of the race. This brought them their second podium in a row, however Leclerc himself had a very measured response to this, saying,

“I guess we start to understand the car, how we can set it up in order to extract the maximum out of it. But still, we need to go in quite extreme directions, which is not so nice to drive. So, unless we have upgrades very soon, I think it’s going to be difficult to be fighting regularly for podiums.”

Mercedes, on the other hand, has shown good qualifying and race pace, but seem to have been struggling with power unit reliability through the entire triple-header. Kimi Antonelli was forced to retire mid-race in both Imola and Spain due to engine failures, leaving him scoreless across the last three grands prix. Russell, too, lost power during Qualifying in Monaco, ultimately resulting in his only start outside of the top five this year and his only race without points. This has set Mercedes back enough for Ferrari to pass them in the Constructors standings as of Spain, and for Red Bull to be in touching distance, just 15 points back from the Silver Arrows.

Troubles at the front, celebrations at the back

Yet a tale of two cities unfolded in Barcelona, as the teams at the forefront of the field battled their own gremlins, while the midfield brought us some of the weekend’s biggest highlights.

Sauber shone in particular, with one of their best weekends of the season. Gabriel Bortoleto impressed during Qualifying as he outperformed his far more experienced teammate, Nico Hulkenberg.  Bortoleto advanced into Q2 and achieved his best starting grid placement with a P12. While Hulkenberg didn't fare as well in Qualifying on Saturday, with a P16 that eventually got bumped up to P15 once Lance Stroll withdrew, Sunday was a different story. He drove a brilliant race to climb well into the points, ultimately finishing among the top five. Both Hulkenberg and Bortoleto, who finished P12, had their best results of the year, and the team took home a 10-point haul. 

With 16 points apiece, Sauber is now tied in the Constructors Championship with Aston Martin, who also had something to celebrate this week; Fernando Alonso finally secured his first points of the season with a P9 finish. With three DNFs so far this year, as well as a slew of misfortunes with safety car timings, incidents with other drivers and so on, Alonso recently described himself as “the unluckiest driver in the world.” Yet his luck may have turned around, and at his home grand prix too. Alonso made it into the points despite a moment in the gravel in an early part of the race. The result is something he will certainly be pleased with, particularly as he was named Ambassador of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya earlier last week.

Next on the calendar is the Canadian Grand Prix, where the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will put drivers to the test with its tight turns and hard braking zones. Teams will have one weekend to regroup and apply the lessons they’ve learned during the first set of European races, and then it’s time to hit the track again. Montreal awaits!