Over the last decade, Max Verstappen has won grands prix in such a vast variety of circumstances that there is now a suitable Verstappen victory to illustrate every page of the ‘Book of Motorsport Clichés’. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free ‘Rubbing is racing’? Why, Austria 2019 of course. ‘It ain’t over ‘til it’s over’? Abu Dhabi 2021.
And now, the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix will forever serve as proof, if proof was ever needed, that you can never win a grand prix in the first corner – you can only lose it. Lando Norris had waited almost three years for his second career grand prix pole position when he finally achieved it at the end of an enthralling qualifying session. Although he had managed to best Verstappen over the course of a qualifying lap of the Circuit de Catalunya, admitting he’d thrown caution to the Catalan winds to do so, Norris knew that pole would leave him vulnerable on the almost 600-metre sprint to the first corner on Sunday.
Norris couldn’t cover off Verstappen and Russell at the start “It’s a long run down to turn one,” he said. “It’s probably one of the places you don’t want to start on pole.” McLaren took no chances.
They equipped Norris with the best possible form of defence with which to fend off Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton , George Russell and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr behind him – his last remaining fresh set of soft tyres. Although the Ferraris sported the same, Verstappen an.
