This is how the Spanish Grand Prix went for the British drivers last year

The 2024 edition of the Spanish Grand Prix may not be so dominant for Red Bull and Verstappen, as the gap at the front of the grid is shrinking constantly. Ferrari, McLaren, and even Mercees, who showed some promising pace at the Canadian Grand Prix, will all try their best to battle for the top step of the podium, and there is a lot of British interest.

However, 12 months ago, this was not the case, as Verstappen romped to victory. However, despite Hamilton starting 5th and Russell way down the grid in P12, the Mercedes pair fought their way through the field to share the podium. On the contrary, it was a race to forget for Alex Albon and Lando Norris.

Mercedes move their way up the field

Qualifying was contesting in the rain in Barcelona, and that caught Russell out. He was involved in an incident with his teammate on the main straight, with Hamilton suffering significant front-wing damage. However, it did not stop the seven-time World Champion from making it into Q3, which Russell could not do, meaning he started from P12. Albon in the uncompetitive Williams could only manage P18, but it was Norris who had the best Saturday, finding the pace to put his McLaren in P3 for the start of the race, with Hamilton two places behind in P5.

If Saturday was Norris's day, Sunday certainly wasn't. Contact between him and Hamilton in turn 1 meant his front wing was damaged and forced him to come into the pit lane to change it, dropping him to the back of the grid and running the McLaren drivers race. Hamilton's floor was also damaged, but that did not hamper him. Russell was noted by stewards for gaining an advantage on the opening chicane but concluded that no investigation was necessary.

Mercedes were able to show some promising race pace in Catalunya, which was severely lacking in 2023. Hamilton ran longer than Carlos Sainz during the first stint, allowing him to overtake the Ferrari with fresher tyres after the first round of stops and run unopposed to the chequered flag in second place. Russell, after escaping from an earlier penalty, was superb on the first stint, moving from P12 to P5. He was also able to copy Hamilton and stretch his tyres, overtaking Lance Stroll during the second round of stops, and then make the most of the fresher tyres to dispose of Sainz to earn a fine podium finish, holding off a charging Sergio Perez on soft tyres.

Lando Norris never recovered from the lap 1 collision with Hamilton, turning his fantastic qualifying result of P3 into a dismal P17 finish. For Alex Albon, it was an uneventful race, but he was able to make up two positions come the race's end, moving from P18 to P16 and finishing well clear of his teammate Logan Sargeant.