THE BIG PICTURE: Yes, Verstappen and Red Bull returned to form back in Europe on normal tracks but also yes the competition is still nipping on their heals, with McLaren arguably the faster car on Sunday. This may indeed continue to be an interesting summer.

EVENT: Spain may still be a MotoGP country, but when you have two outstanding F1 drivers, the fans sure show up for it.

TRACK: Not like the crazy number of overtakes last year (107), but the removal of that chicane still paid dividends again.

QUALIFYING: A stunning lap by Norris beating a well executing Verstappen and Red Bull, Mercedes is indeed back, but Ferrari aren't slouches either, Perez continues to not do his share, while Piastri over uses his tires. No surprises in Q1 and Q2, including another useless effort by Ricciardo.

RACE: Though there were some stunning passes, the strategy game was quite exciting this time.

START: What an unbelievable start and swoop around the outside of the front row for Russell to grab the lead from fourth stating spot, Norris tries everything to block out Verstappan to no avail, while Hamilton has the opposite sort of start.

VERSTAPPEN: Another win Max had to work at.

PEREZ: Another straggling performance Sergio had to "work" at.

NORRIS: Lando is definitely going to win again this year.

MCLAREN: We're not of the belief that they messed up Norris' strategy. They were going for the win as Lando wanted, and they were on the back foot when Lando lost the lead at the start.

HAMILTON: This time Lewis got the better of his teammate at the end for the last podium spot.

RUSSELL: Different strategy cost George this time.

FERRARI: A little testy there between their drivers.

ALPINE: They have now hit the bottom of the management cesspool with their hiring of the man who so embarrassed them in the past, Renault had to sell their team and get out of F1 just to save their face.

GASLY: But the drivers ignored all that, and put in a fine effort, with a second consecutive ninth place for Pierre...

OCON: ...and a second consecutive 10th place for Esteban.

ASTON MARTIN: Starting to stagnate lately.

RB: Terrible weekend especially for a team that was on the rise.

WILLIAMS: Horrible weekend. But we still insist they are the best long-term option for Sainz.

F2: American Jak Crawford won the feature race while his fellow countryman, Juan Manuel Correa, took third, his first podium after the horrid Spa 2019 crash. It was also five years to the day he shared a podium with the late Anthoine Hubert. Frenchman Victor Martins took the sprint race.

F3: Front row teammates crashed each other out on the third lap of the sprint race allowing Mari Boya to win on home soil, becoming the ninth winner in nine races. That streak was broken when Brit Arvid Lindblad won the feature race, taking the early lead with a daring outside pass and then surviving heavy rain on the last lap.

F1 ACADEMY: Brit Abbi Pulling won the first race, her fourth in a row. Despite also starting from pole in the second race, American Chloe Chambers got the jump on her and then extended her lead by a massive amount en route to her first victory.

LE MANS: One of the most spectacular races at la Sarthe with nine cars on the lead lap (previously, no more than two ever did that), with four cars amongst three manufacturers having a shot at a win in the last hour. Ultimately, it was the Ferrari 499P Hypercar driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen by 14.221 seconds.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Vamos.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 6 -- The number of times Logan Sargeant, in his F1 career, has outqualified Sergio Perez. We're just throwing that out there for your entertainment...

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: This is the first time since 1934 that the winning manufacturer for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco GP are the same. This year it was Ferrari. In 1934, it was Alfa Romeo. Guy Moll won at Monaco in an Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3 followed by his teammate, Louis Chiron, a minute behind. At Le Mans, Luigi Chinetti and Philippe Étancelin won in an Alfo Romeo 8C-2300 MM-LM by 13 laps. Interestingly, Alfa Romeo had shut their GP team down, so Enzo Ferrari ran the customer team under the name of Scuderia Ferrari. However, for sports car races, Ferrari only entered Italian events, so it was a Chinetti private entry in France.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: All the tweets remembering and celebrating the birthday of Juan Manual Fangio. The greatest ever.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Lando Norris on his firm belief he would have won the race had he not lost the lead at the start, "Not could, shoulda."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Max Verstappen enters the post race press conference, sees Lewis Hamilton laid out on the very comfortable couch, and says, "He's clearly getting old! Do you need a massage?"

SCHEDULE: Rapid fire now. Off to Austria, Red Bull's home.

Copyright © 2024 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.