It was a scorching day in Spain for the Grand Prix, which meant that tyre wear was all important, as well as keeping engines in check. In the end, it was a chaotic race full of good and bad luck, which has had a drastic effect on the championship.
With both Ferrari and Mercedes bringing upgrades, it was going to be difficult for Red Bull to keep up, so they did well to be in the fight for pole with Ferrari. Come the race, Max’s pace initially was fairly close to Charles, but because of his spin, we will never know if he could have challenged him on pure pace. It was an unusual error by Verstappen, seemingly caused by a gust of wind, which dropped him well behind Leclerc. From there he had a fierce battle with George, eventually getting past through strategy, and went on to win, continuing his strength this season. Perez’s pace was amazing too, even pressuring Max at points when he was stuck behind the Mercedes. A 1-2 is incredible for the team, as they try to win both titles this year. Their ability to conserve tyres could be crucial all throughout the year.
You could argue that Mercedes had almost as good a weekend as Red Bull, simply because of the pace improvement they showed all weekend. Their bouncing is gone it seems, whether it is due to the upgrades, or they understood why it worked at Miami, we probably will never know. Russell had an excellent qualifying up in 4th, which put him right in the fight on Sunday. Lewis could only be sixth, which put him at risk from behind at the start, and sure enough he was tagged on lap 1 by Magnussen, which put him to the back. He fought back incredibly well though, and 5th with the race pace he showed, will be a huge boost for him. Russell meanwhile was up to 2nd after the two spins ahead of him, and his defence against Max was inspired, especially that move around the outside in Turn 1. In the end though he couldn’t hold them off, but 3rd is still great for them. Monaco will be an opportunity for them to make another step forwards.
It was a sobering day for Ferrari in Spain, after Leclerc had an incredible qualifying, coming back from a spin to take pole on his only lap in Q3. His start too was perfect, and was able to control Verstappen early on in the race, then once Max made the mistake, it looked like nothing could stop Charles taking another win this year, however, all of a sudden, his engine gave up on him, and with it went the win and the championship lead. This is something they cannot afford to happen in a title fight, and need to understand it quickly. The other unacceptable occurrence was yet another error by Sainz, I know that Max made the same mistake, but it is becoming common for Sainz now, and also his pace after the spin wasn’t exactly amazing. Carlos needs to get back on it soon.
Bottas is becoming a star of the sport once again, with his consistency in scoring big points for Alfa Romeo. His pace compared to the rest of the mid field was brilliant, and shows how strong the Ferrari engine is. Alpine had a mini resurgence here, following a tough few races, we have seen pace from that car all year long, they just weren’t able to turn it into points. Alonso from last place was a sight to behold as he made move after move through the field.
Norris was in between the Alpines, and considering his tonsillitis diagnosis post-race, his performance is another to shout about. McLaren are another team not able to capitalise on their potential, so these points will be great for the team. Tsunoda has clearly learnt from his rookie year, and is consistently securing pretty good results, with another point for the team here. Vettel was able to come back from a disaster in qualifying to just miss the points, suggesting the new upgrades weren’t a total failure.
After beating Lando in qualifying, Ricciardo ended up falling back in the race, as his tales of woe continue. Gasly is all of a sudden struggling to match his younger teammate, a rather interesting development after last year, he was nowhere near the points all weekend. Things were looking so good for Schumacher for a lot of the race, sitting in 9th or 10th, but other drivers late pit stops meant he was a sitting duck, and eventually fell to 14th. Magnussen couldn’t recover after the collision with Hamilton, it was an unfortunate crash, with no one driver fully at fault.
Monaco is next up for F1, and the new cars may help to produce some overtakes there, although I think the more major issue at Monaco is the size of the cars, rather than the dirty air. The other question is can Charles finally get rid of his demons at that circuit, or will it be another weekend of pain for him.
-M
Meaning of Motorsport 