Spanish GP: What did we learn?
After a ragged race in Russia last time out, Lewis Hamilton bounced back to win a thrilling Spanish scrap with Sebastian Vettel in Barcelona. With the European season now underway, the upgrades brought to Barcelona by Mercedes and Ferrari sees them racing even closer. Here’s what we learned from the Spanish Grand Prix;
A thrilling contest
Vettel jumped Hamilton at the start after Valtteri Bottas nudged Kimi Raikkonen into Max Verstappen, taking both out of the race. Vettel pitted first and came out nine seconds ahead of Hamilton. However, Bottas held Vettel up enough for Hamilton to close the gap. A virtual safety car played into Hamilton’s hands, and he pitted first for a risky long final stint on the softs. Vettel pitted a lap later for mediums and came out side-by-side with Hamilton, banging wheels but staying ahead. But with faster rubber, Hamilton eventually got past to seal the win. It’s the first of hopefully many wheel-to-wheel dogfights between the two title contenders this year.
Red Bull still chasing
After closing the gap to Mercedes down to sixth tenths in qualifying, Red Bull were horrifically humbled in the race. Max Verstappen was a non-factor after his first corner exit, and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo benefited from a Bottas blowout, finishing in third and over 70 seconds behind Hamilton. Clearly Red Bull are still several upgrades away, but could be more competitive in Monaco.
Midfield making the most of the mess
Retirements from Verstappen, Raikkonen and Bottas opened things up for the midfield teams. The Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon finished fourth and fifth, opening up a huge 32 point lead over closest challengers Toro Rosso in the battle for fourth in the Constructors. Toro Rosso took advantage of a woeful day from Williams, with home hero Carlos Sainz in 7th and Daniil Kvyat in 9th after Williams’ Felipe Massa was another driver who had his race ruined in Turn One. Nico Hulkenberg quietly came home sixth for Renault, while Romain Grosjean salvaged a point in 10th after a disappointing weekend.
Wehrlein plays saviour for Sauber
Last season, Sauber didn’t score a point until the penultimate round in Brazil. This weekend, a superb drive from Pascal Wehrlein saw the team claim 8th and four points. Although helped by retirements from the leading teams, Sauber will be optimistic for some more points this season before switching to Honda engines next year. Ironically, they will have to battle current Honda partners McLaren for ninth in the Constructors table in order to fully take advantage of up-to-date engines in 2018.
Messy McLaren
McLaren have endured a tough season so far, and so has star driver Fernando Alonso. However, this weekend delivered some smiles on Saturday as Alonso dragged his McLaren into Q3, lining up 7th ahead of Force India, Williams and the rest of the midfield. Sadly though, the race was another struggle. A brush with Massa’s Williams at Turn One hampered Alonso at his home race, and he finished in a relatively anonymous 12th place. Team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne looked racy until he smashed his front suspension while defending from Massa later on. Monaco will see Jenson Button take over for Alonso on what could be McLaren’s best opportunity this season.
