Max Verstappen headed Sergio Perez in a Red Bull one-two finish to clinch victory at 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc led from pole ahead of Verstappen who spun at Turn Four on Lap Nine which further extended the Monegasque’s lead but a power unit failure caused Leclerc to retire on Lap 28.
George Russell consequently inherited the lead as he led Verstappen who made a second pit stop on Lap 29 to unleash Perez, which led to the Mexican passing Russell for the lead on Lap 31 and led until he made his own second stop on Lap 38.
Verstappen then gambled on a third stop on Lap 45 which paid off as he made a race-winning overtake on Lap 49, after he was allowed through at Turn Four by Perez who settled for second ahead of Russell.
Carlos Sainz recovered from a spin to finish fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton who battled back from a first-lap puncture to finish fifth ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda.
In the driver standings, Verstappen benefitted from Leclerc’s race retirement to take the championship lead by six points from the Monegasque driver with Perez still sat third.
At lights out, Leclerc. made a clean start to cut off Verstappen as Russell climbed to third ahead of Perez who also passed Sainz after the Spaniard had got stuck in anti-stall as he left his grid slot.
Hamilton also got alongside Sainz through the opening corners as the only driver on medium tyres but was unaware of Kevin Magnussen sweeping round the outside of Turn Four, as the Dane clipped Hamilton’s front-left tyre which gave the Brit a puncture and dropped him down the order.
Magnussen meanwhile ventured across the gravel which ruined his race prospects as he failed to fight for points.
A gust of wind soon afterwards began to linger around Turn Four and caught out both Sainz plus Verstappen on Laps Seven and Nine respectively, of which the latter’s mistake promoted Russell to second as he fought off Perez and Verstappen in his opening stint despite the car overheating.
Russell and Verstappen pitted on Lap 14 which enabled Perez to get clean air as Leclerc comfortably continue to build a double-digit lead.
Verstappen soon encountered DRS issues with the DRS flap randomly not opening or opening-and-shutting when within the DRS zone on various laps as he chased Russell down.
Verstappen attempted an inside move at Turn One on Lap 24 only for Russell to get the momentum round the outside to fight back through Turns Two and Three to swiftly reclaim second, which led to Perez on Lap 26 instructing Red Bull to let him past Verstappen.
Leclerc then encountered a sudden loss of power a lap later which forced him to put and retire at the start of Lap 28, with Verstappen pitting for a second time a lap later as Russell fought off Perez.
Perez however made a late lunge into Turn One on Lap 31 to seize the lead but conceded to Verstappen as he made his second stop on Lap 38 and re-joined in second.
Verstappen decided on a third and final pit stop on Lap 45 after building a 16 second lead over Perez, which paid off as he re-joined on medium tyres and quickly reeled Perez in, with the Mexican eventually letting him through into the lead and victory at Turn Four on Lap 49.
Hamilton meanwhile had quietly recovered to seventh after his third stop on Lap 49 and found himself quickly clearing Ocon for sixth two laps later.
Bottas meanwhile had attempted a two-stop strategy which left him third after Russell made his final stop but the Brit quickly passed him, with Sainz and Hamilton both further demoting him in three corners at the start of Lap 58.
Hamilton then passed Sainz two laps later for fourth but had to concede position in the closing laps due to overheating issues, as he recovered from his opening lap incident to finish fifth ahead of Bottas, Ocon and Norris.
Fernando Alonso meanwhile recovered from a back of grid start to finish ninth ahead of Tsunoda who rounded out the top ten.
F1 now heads to Monaco next weekend for the next round with Practice now held on Friday 27 May, in a change to Monaco’s usual race weekend format as Thursday Practice is dropped.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 66 | 1h 37m 20.475 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 66 | + 13.072 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | 66 | + 32.927 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 66 | + 45.208 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 66 | + 54.534 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 66 | + 59.976 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 66 | + 75.397 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 66 | + 83.235 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 65 | + 1 Lap |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 65 | + 1 Lap |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 65 | + 1 Lap |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 65 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 65 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 65 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 65 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 64 | + 2 Laps |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 66 | + 2 Laps |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | 66 | + 2 Laps |
| RET | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 30 | Power |
| RET | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 27 | Power |
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