Spanish Grand Prix Prediction and Betting Tips: Three selections for Catalonia race

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya hosts the tenth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship this weekend when Max Verstappen will be bidding to win his third consecutive Spanish Grand Prix.

The circuit offers a balanced mix of high-speed and low-speed corners which Verstappen has mastered three times previously with the Red Bull driver’s first win at the track coming back in 2016.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris have been the reigning world champion’s main challengers this year with Norris pushing the Dutchman down to second in Miami and Leclerc controlling his home Monaco GP from the front.

Mercedes have struggled in 2024, but will be hoping George Russell’s podium finish and a fourth place from ex-world champion Lewis Hamilton in Canada are a sign that they are moving in the right direction.

Verstappen heads the Driver’s Championship by 56 points from Leclerc after nine races with Norris a further seven points behind the leading duo.

The Dutchman has won six of the nine with the only blot on his copybook being the retirement in Australia after his car sustained a fiery mechanical failure on the fourth lap of the race.

After struggling in qualifying and finishing the Monaco GP down in a relatively disappointing sixth place, Verstappen bounced back with an authoritative drive in Canada.

He has won the last two editions of this race in 2022 and 2023, and has a strong record at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, claiming his first of his 60 Grand Prix victories here in 2016.

It would be foolish to look elsewhere for the winner of this race given his current and previous track record.

Ferrari showed improved pace at Monaco but then endured a horrific Canadian Grand Prix weekend as the team scored zero points at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Reports claim the team plan to fast-track upgrades that had been scheduled for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in time for this race, but reliability concerns linger.

As for McLaren, the low-speed gains the Woking-based team unlocked with recent upgrades could leave its MCL38 worse off at fast tracks like Barcelona.

Red Bull, therefore, look like being the team to beat this weekend with their number one driver Verstappen likely to be ahead of the rest once more.

Verstappen’s dominance of the last two Spanish GPs has extended beyond the race itself with the Dutchman qualifying on pole in 2023 and again on the front row of the grid the year before.

Red Bull’s race strategy for him in 2022 was to run medium-compound tyres and pit early, on lap 13 of 66, and again on laps 30 and 44.

Teammate Sergio Perez recorded the fastest lap time that day, but Verstappen had more pace than anyone else last year as he took pole position by around half a second and set a lap record on lap 61 as he led from start to finish.

The Dutchman’s qualifying performances in 2024 have been magnificent with the 26-year-old taking pole position in the first seven races.

Russell might be his closest challenger for that honour in Barcelona after he earned his first pole of the year in Canada and set the fastest race lap time at Imola a few weeks before.

One slight concern for Red Bull going into this race would be the three-place grid penalty that has been imposed on number two driver Perez. He was judged to have driven back to the pits with a "significantly damaged car" in Montreal.

The Mexican’s problems could enable some other teams to get both of their drivers into the points in Barcelona with Aston Martin well placed to benefit.

The Silverstone-based team have not quite had the same impact in 2024 as they did through the first nine races last year when they had six podiums, nine other points finishes and only two retirements.

But, after failing to get both drivers into the points in six of the first eight races, both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll finished well - in sixth and seventh respectively - to suggest Aston-Martin may be about to recapture last summer’s success.