Under temperatures exceeding 35 degrees in the air and 45 degrees on the track, the Scuderia driver was alone in the lead of the race shortly before halfway, far ahead of his pursuers, the Briton George Russell (Mercedes ) and Verstappen, then in the fight for second place, when he suffered an engine problem.

A real stroke of luck for the Batavian who was then 19 units behind Leclerc, before the 6th round of the season.

The victory of the reigning world champion, who started in second position, did not seem to have been taken for granted from the outset since he first got a real scare on the first laps of the track: he made a mistake on the ninth lap, he fell to fourth place behind teammate Sergio Pérez and Russell, and a long way behind rival Leclerc.

To make matters worse, once the priority was left by Pérez in his fight for second place against Russell, Verstappen indicated that, as in qualifying, he had problems with his DRS - the flap mounted on the rear wing which opens to gain top speed-- failing to overtake his opponent for about twenty laps.

"I was on the pace and trying to pass but my DRS wasn't always working which made it difficult," Verstappen explained on arrival.

"It was a difficult start but the end is good!".

Results of the Spanish Grand Prix and driver and manufacturer rankings Kenan AUGEARD AFP

After Leclerc's retirement, the Dutchman, helped by a new set of tires and the pit stop of his opponent of the day, managed to take the reins of the race, once again helped by the politeness of his teammate Pérez, a time in the lead of the GP.

Mercedes in the race

On the Barcelona-Catalonia circuit in Montmelo, Verstappen won the 24th success of his career and the fourth this season, after the GPs of Saudi Arabia, Emilia Romagna in Italy and Miami.

In Spain, he is ahead of his Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez, second, and Russell.

Verstappen now has 110 points overall, compared to 104 for Leclerc and 85 for Pérez.

The Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who started third ahead of Pérez and Russell but got off to a bad start, still snatched fourth place and saved the day at Ferrari, which lost the championship lead to Red Bull in the process.

Starting in 5th place on the grid, Briton Lewis Hamilton suffered a collision with the Haas of Dane Kevin Magnussen (starting 8th) at the start of the race, an incident which led him to return to the pits.

He still signs 5th place... and the return of the Mercedes in the race?

The reigning world champion team, in difficulty since the start of the season, took advantage of the Catalan circuit, which drivers and teams know by heart after around thirty GPs since 1991 and winter testing every year between 2014 and 2020 then in 2022, to make a lot of improvements to its single-seaters which seem to be bearing fruit.

George Russell's Mercedes negotiates a chicane in front of Sergio Perez's Red Bull on the Catalan circuit of Montmelo, May 21, 2022 GABRIEL BOUYS AFP

The Finn Valtteri Bottas signed a good sixth place behind the leading men at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo, followed by the Alpine of Frenchman Esteban Ocon, who started 12th on the grid.

The other Frenchman in the event, Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), finished 13th.

© 2022 AFP