Verstappen's rivals hope upgrades to cars can start to reel Red Bull in at Spanish GP

Rivals Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso will be united in at least one ambition at Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

That is a hope the biggest collection of car upgrades the season will see hauls them much closer to runaway championship leader Max Verstappen.

Millions of dirhams in car parts and development expertise have been thrown at car developments.

Some of it done by teams in crisis, like Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.

The rest are simply trying to keep ahead in the annual, behind-the-scenes, arms race that is every bit as intense as the championship itself.

Every season their arrival at the first European round marks a shift in intensity.

The changes were meant for Imola two weeks ago but it was cancelled by flooding.

Because the parts had already been freighted to Italy they were taken on to Monaco, a hectic street track where the improvements were largely either immeasurable or irrelevant.

So after six unique races (Bahrain aside) Sunday’s race becomes the moment when the championship arrives at a traditional racetrack and drivers, teams and fans finally learn the sport’s true pecking order the length of the grid.

Aston Martin are hoping to cement their position as the second force for 2023, chasing Red Bull’s tail.

Monte Carlo saw Alonso’s fifth podium in six races and with it the announcement of a tie-up with Honda, the current pace-setting power unit of Red Bull, from 2026

The deal will, no doubt, have created friction at the champions, who spent tens if not hundreds of millions of dirhams setting up their own engine division after learning of Honda’s departure in 2026 only to see the Japanese company change its mind after they linked up with Ford.

As long as the winning continues, both sides