Tag Archives: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Verstappen takes victory in Spain after P2 Norris bobbles start; Hamilton earns first podium of season ahead of P4 Russell

To beat the best, you’ve got to execute flawlessly. McLaren and their star driver Lando Norris learned that age old lesson of sport again during Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, as Norris’s promising pole start quickly unraveled when the young Briton bobbled his getaway as the lights went out to start the race. That slow start saw Norris quickly gobbled up by not only the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who started P2, but also the Mercedes of George Russell, whose impressive Turn 1 lunge from fourth overtook both Norris and Verstappen, as well as teammate Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen’s Red Bull showed immediately dominant race pace, however, keeping Norris behind easily and then gobbling up Russell for the lead of the Grand Prix on Lap 3. That was really the pivotal early sequence of this 66-lap contest at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. But McLaren tried to will their man back into the lead by running a longer first stint for Norris and hoping the overcut would prove powerful enough to make up for his opening lap error. So, when Verstappen came in for his first tire change on Lap 18, doffing his initial set of Soft Pirellis for Mediums, Norris stayed out for another five revolutions before coming in to make the identical switch. But the strategy didn’t really pay dividends, as Verstappen inherited the lead when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc made his first stop, while Norris was forced to scythe his way through the likes of the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz and the Mercedes of Hamilton simply to get up to P3 by Lap 32.

While Verstappen pumped in good laps at the front in clean air, Norris dispatched the over-achieving Russell in an epic back and forth pass, repass and pass back on Lap 35 while speeding through the twisty Turns 3-4-5 complex. Back in P2, Norris once again watched as the other main contenders made their second tire stops. First, Russell pitted on Lap 37, the Silver Arrows braintrust making the fateful decision to put him on Hards to finish out the race from that distance. But teammate Lewis Hamilton ran quite a bit longer and came in on Lap 45 to take Softs instead, the team liking his chances with only around 30 laps left to run. Verstappen then made his second stop, likewise ditching his Mediums for a new set of the Softs and a race to the finish on those better performing tires. Norris ran two laps longer after debating about staying out with his race engineer, following the same Medium to Soft pattern, albeit with a disappointingly slow 3.6-second stop. Nevertheless, Norris retained P2 on exit just ahead of Russell, even as Verstappen circulated back to the point. While Norris’s McLaren was able to cut into Verstappen’s lead as the laps wound down, it wasn’t nearly enough to prevent the Red Bull ace from notching his seventh win of 2024 out of ten rounds now run. Norris had to settle for setting the fastest lap en route to another second place, his impressive third P2 out of the last five races, not to mention his maiden win in Miami within that stretch. But in a sign of his and the team’s increased ambitions, he was left unsatisfied and rueing the chances lost at the start, the 2.21 second final deficit to Verstappen likely coming down to that poor initial getaway.

Russell’s relatively early pit stop and the need to therefore put him on the Hards cost him at the end, as teammate Hamilton was able to overtake him on lap 52 and claim the last step on the podium in P3 as the checkers flew. Surprisingly, it was Hamilton’s first podium of the 2024 season, though with Mercedes’s improved performance of late, it likely won’t be the last. Russell had to settle for P4 but the Silver Arrows were comfortably ahead of the Ferraris all race long, a worrying development for the Scuderia. Charles Leclerc came home P5, passing Carlos Sainz via team orders on Lap 55 and leaving Sainz extra annoyed after he felt his teammate had treated him roughly earlier in the race. The second McLaren of Oscar Piastri finished P7 after starting in P9 and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez came home in P8 after his  penalty-effected P11 start. The two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished in P9 and P10 respectively, the team’s second double points finish in two races after an abysmal start to the year

Top 10 finishers of the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 66 1:28:20.227 25
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 66 +2.219s 19
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 66 +17.790s 15
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 66 +22.320s 12
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 66 +22.709s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 66 +31.028s 8
7 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 66 +33.760s 6
8 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 66 +59.524s 4
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 66 +62.025s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 66 +71.889s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the Austrian Grand Prix from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. While it may be Verstappen and the team’s home court, McLaren and Norris are still expecting big things as they continue to try and take the fight to the three-time World Champion. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

GAME ON: Norris bests Verstappen for pole in Barcelona; Mercedes out-qualify Ferrari

The beginning to the 2024 Formula 1 campaign seemed to promise only an inevitably dominant Max Verstappen march to a fourth consecutive Driver’s title. But things have gotten well and truly more complicated and interesting with emergence of McLaren’s Lando Norris as a genuine threat to the Red Bull ace’s imperial ambitions. Beginning in Round 5 in China, Norris has shown that he can essentially match Verstappen and the RB20’s pace, either in qualifying trim or at race pace. Norris beat out Verstappen fair and square for his maiden F1 win in Miami and finished P2 to Verstappen the race before in China and two of the three races after Miami, Emilia-Romagna and Canada. And two weeks after his excellent runner-up performance in Montreal, where victory was also within his reach if not for an ill-timed Safety Car, Norris showed his form and threat are no fluke by besting Verstappen in Saturday qualifying to earn pole for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. Norris put in a blistering last lap around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to surpass what appeared to be Verstappen’s supreme final time by 0.020-seconds. It was Norris’s second career pole in F1 and first since way back in 2021 at Sochi in Russia. The Lando-Max front row should make the opening lap of tomorrow’s Grand Prix must see TV, as two young pilots at the peak of their powers fight on even terms for what each hopes will be a statement win in Spain.

Which is not to say that the drivers behind that elite duo won’t also have something to say about the outcome of the race. Looking like their performance gains in Canada might just prove illusory after two desultory rounds of quali, the factory Mercedes team came alive in Q3. The Silver Arrows ambushed Ferrari with their pace improvement on the rubbered-in track, with Lewis Hamilton out-qualifying his younger teammate George Russell for a change, P3 to P4. With Mercedes thereby locking out the second row, Ferrari were surprised to find themselves relegated to row three, with Charles Lecerc earning P5 ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz in P6. Alpine continued their momentum after their double points finish in Canada, with Pierre Gasly slotting in an impressive P7 ahead of teammate and archrival Esteban Ocon in P9. They sandwiched the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who sacrificed his chance of a higher placing when he helped out teammate Verstappen by giving him a tow in Q3. The team may be having second thoughts about that decision, because Verstappen would probably still have been P2 either way and Perez was then demoted to P11 on the grid due to having to serve his 3-spot penalty from Canada for choosing to drive his heavily damaged car back to the pits. While that promotes the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri to a P9 start, that will be cold comfort for the young Australian, who ran wide into the gravel on his final qualifying lap and therefore could not come close to matching teammate Norris’s pole time. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso qualified P11 but was elevated to P10 on the grid for his home race as a result of Perez’s penalty.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.386 1:11.872 1:11.383 12
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:12.306 1:11.653 1:11.403 12
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:12.143 1:11.792 1:11.701 18
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:12.456 1:11.812 1:11.703 16
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:12.257 1:12.038 1:11.731 12
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:12.403 1:11.874 1:11.736 12
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:12.651 1:12.079 1:11.857 18
8 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:12.477 1:12.054 1:12.061 18
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:12.691 1:12.109 1:12.125 18
10 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.460 1:12.011 DNF 16

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9 am Eastern here in the States. Can Norris hold off Verstappen over the course of 66-laps and take a second victory at the Dutchman’s expense? Or will the Silver Arrows and Prancing Horses have a say in the outcome? Hope to see you then to find out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Verstappen takes dominant pole in Barcelona ahead of Sainz; Leclerc knocked out in Q1, Perez in Q2; Norris qualifies P3 in upgraded McLaren; Alonso starts only P9 in home race; Mercedes avoid catastrophe as P5 Hamilton and P12 Russell collide late in Q2

 

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:13.615 1:12.760 1:12.272 20
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:13.411 1:12.790 1:12.734 22
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:13.295 1:12.776 1:12.792 22
4 10 Pierre Gasly* ALPINE RENAULT 1:13.471 1:13.186 1:12.816 21
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:12.937 1:12.999 1:12.818 23
6 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:13.766 1:13.082 1:12.994 23
7 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:13.433 1:13.001 1:13.083 21
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:13.420 1:13.283 1:13.229 18
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:13.747 1:13.098 1:13.507 18
10 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:13.691 1:13.059 1:13.682 20

*Gasly penalized 6 grid spots for impeding during Quali, starts P10

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 9AM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if anyone can challenge the soaring Verstappen and just how far up Leclerc can fight his way through the field from a P19 start!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Verstappen overcomes DRS issues to seize victory, Perez takes P2 for maximum Red Bull points in Spain; heartbreak for Ferrari as Leclerc DNFs, elation for Mercedes as Russell podiums

In a highly volatile and entertaining Spanish Grand Prix this Sunday, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went from extreme frustration with his car’s intermittent DRS problems and even an off track excursion in the first half of the race to the thrill of victory when the checkers flew to end this 66-lap contest. On the other end of the emotional spectrum, Ferrari and their lead driver Charles Leclerc suffered fierce disappointment when what looked like a sure victory turned instead into an ignominious DNF, when the Monegasque’s engine conked out unceremoniously not even halfway through. As the pole-sitting Leclerc, who was out in front by a seemingly insurmountable margin after the first round of pit stops, limped his stricken F1-75 back to the pits in despair, Mercedes’ George Russell inherited the lead, with the formerly P3 Vertsappen now promoted to P2 right on the Englishman’s tail. It was Verstappen’s fight with Russell over the several laps prior that exposed his Red Bull’s DRS issues, where the flap on the Dutchman’s car just wouldn’t stay open in a constant manner in the activation zones, as it is designed to do. That lack of extra DRS-induced speed in pursuit gave Russell the advantage in holding off Verstappen lap after lap, all the time making Max hotter and hotter under the collar on an already hot day in Barcelona.

With Leclerc now out of the picture and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez closing in on the dueling pair on fresh Medium Pirellis, the team decided to split their strategy and disengage Verstappen from both Russel and Perez, bringing the Number 1 car in on Lap 29 for the Soft tires instead. This also indicated the team were now seriously flirting with a seemingly radical 3-stop strategy for Verstappen, deviating from the accepted wisdom that a 2-stopper was the fastest way to get around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. It also meant game on for  Perez to attack Russell for the race lead, which the Mexican did to fine effect on Lap 31, easily overtaking the Silver Arrow on his much fresher rubber. Another round of pits stops ensued when Russell, facing a repeat onslaught from Verstappen, pitted from P2, this second time for a set of the more durable Medium tires in an effort perhaps to go to the end and jump Perez in the pits. Perez responded a lap later, also putting on the Mediums to cover Russell’s maneuver. Meanwhile, Verstappen ran a rapid set of laps to close up on the top two and then dove to the pits on Lap 45. When he emerged on his own set of Mediums after the typically crisp Red Bull tire change, Verstappen had leapfrogged Russell for P2 and was under 6-seconds behind his race leading teammate. Verstappen continued to close in on Perez and the team gave the order for the Mexican to step aside and let their golden boy through on Lap 49. Unfair, cried Perez, but it was soon clear the team had made the right decision, as Vertsappn swanned away to an eventually dominant victory over 13-seconds to the good of his loyal wingman. Perez did have the consolation of not only taking P2 on the day but also setting the fastest lap of the race, thereby netting the bonus point and giving the Red Bull team the maximum Constructors points available on the day.

So, for Ferrari it was a day that went from great promise with their men starting from P1 and P3 on the grid to more than a minor disaster. With Leclerc’s DNF and Carlos Sainz’s salvaging a P4 finish after he suffered yet another spin into the gravel early in the race, something that has become an unfortunate theme for the Spaniard this season, the Scuderia were only able to score 12 points to Red Bull’s 44 on the day. That meant Verstappen overhauled Leclerc for the Drivers’ points lead and Red Bull vaulted ahead of Ferrari for the top spot in the all important Constructors’ Championship. Despite this year’s RB18’s somewhat deserved reputation for fragility, it is the Ferrari that suffered terminal engine woes that cost Leclerc a potential win and now all the momentum has swung Red Bull’s way. It’s still far too early to hit the panic button but mighty Maranello had better tighten things up before Red Bull really hit their stride. They’ll have only a week to suss things out before the next race in Monaco, a street circuit where Leclerc and Verstappen have both had their respective highs and lows

Perhaps sending yet another pang of nervousness team Ferrari’s way was the improved performance of the Mercedes duo this weekend. Finally coming to grips with the porpoising issues that have bedeviled them since the beginning of the year, Russell’s Silver Arrow was able to hold off the DRS-hobbled Verstappen if not really the fully fit car of Perez. But young George was certainly the best of the rest, running a canny race to take the last step on the podium in P3 ahead of Sainz’s allegedly more impressive Prancing Horse. Russell’s teammate Lewis Hamilton had an up and down adventure of his own under the hot Spanish sun, colliding with Haas’s Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap, which caused a puncture and sent the seven-time champ to the back of the field after a premature pit stop. While a despondent Hamilton mused about simply retiring the car to save the engine, the team bucked him up and Lewis was able to fight his way back up to within shouting distance of the podium. Hamilton was forced to concede P4 to Sainz with an engine cooling issue forcing him to nurse the car home on the final laps but he was still able to earn a valuable P5 on the day and things are looking a lot more optimistic for formerly mighty Mercedes and their fervid aspiration to compete on even terms with Ferrari and maybe even Red Bull going forward.

Top 10 finishers of the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 66 1:37:20.475 25
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 66 +13.072s 19
3 63 George Russell MERCEDES 66 +32.927s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 66 +45.208s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 66 +54.534s 10
6 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 66 +59.976s 8
7 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 66 +75.397s 6
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 66 +83.235s 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 65 +1 lap 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI RBPT 65 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the venerable Monaco Grand Prix, a great motorsport tradition on Memorial Day Weekend along with the Indianapolis 500. It will be interesting to see if this new generation of F1 car can actually pass on the narrow city roads of the principality. Equally intriguing will be to find out how native son Leclerc recovers from today’s crushing disappointment. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Leclerc recovers from spin to set blustering final lap, earn pole in Barcelona; P2 Verstappen thwarted by engine woes, Sainz P3 on good day for Ferrari

Amidst scorching hot conditions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc kept his cool. The F1 points leader recovered from a spin earlier in Q3 and, after a pit stop for fresh tires, went back out and laid down an untouchable lap that earned him pole as the checkers flew to end the final quali session. The Monegasque brought some heat of his own to this very familiar Spanish circuit, blistering the track to the tune of 1:18.750, a good quarter-second ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. While Leclerc, who at times this season has seemed be his own worst enemy in terms of unforced errors, showed good mental fortitude to recover from his clumsy spin and hook up that splendid pole lap, Verstappen was hamstrung in his efforts to respond when his DRS failed to open during his final hot lap, robbing the Dutchman of vital speed. Once again, the Red Bull showed a disconcerting fragility but on this day, at least, Ferrari’s lead driver did not.

Behind Verstappen, Leclerc’s stablemate, Carlos Sainz, earned cheers from his countrymen in the grandstands by setting the third fastest time in Q3. That made it a very promising day for Ferrari because Sergio Perez, the Red Bull number two, could hustle himself up to no better than P5 when time expired. That enabled George Russell to sneak his Mercedes into P4 with a sterling effort in what has not been an elite car to this point. So, Russell will line up alongside Sainz on the second row come Sunday, while his Silver Arrows teammate, Lewis Hamilton, qualified a respectable P6 and will be across from Perez on the third row. This circuit does seem to suit the porpoising-plagued Mercs but it is yet to be seen if they can covert that into a much needed positive double points result tomorrow or if they can really match the race pace of this year’s big dogs, Red Bull & Ferrari,  when the lights go out.

Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas continued to deliver the goods for his new team by setting the seventh fastest time. And team Haas had an excellent run, with Kevin Magnussen doing yeoman’s work for P8 and P10 Mick Schumacher getting into Q3 for the first time in his young career thanks to the McLaren of Lando Norris having his best lap in Q2 disqualified for exceeding track limits. Norris’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo flew the McLaren flag with a time good enough for P9 and look for the out-of-position P11 Norris to join him in rapid order tomorrow as he fights his way to the front.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:19.861 1:19.969 1:18.750 12
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:20.091 1:19.219 1:19.073 16
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:19.892 1:19.453 1:19.166 16
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:20.218 1:19.470 1:19.393 14
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:20.447 1:19.830 1:19.420 17
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:20.252 1:19.794 1:19.512 15
7 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:20.355 1:20.053 1:19.608 18
8 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:20.227 1:19.810 1:19.682 18
9 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:20.549 1:20.287 1:20.297 15
10 47 Mick Schumacher HAAS FERRARI 1:20.683 1:20.436 1:20.368 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Mercedes strategy gamble pays off with victory for Hamilton in Spain; Verstappen leads most laps but is runner-up yet again; Bottas P3

Red Bull’s superstar driver Max Verstappen seemed to have a solid shot at victory on Sunday when he passed Mercedes pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton for the lead with a forceful move going into Turn 1 on the opening lap of the Spanish Grand Prix. Being out in front at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is paramount, where passing is as difficult as at any street circuit on the calendar. So Max’s stellar start boded well for the Dutch phenom and his aspiring team. But it wasn’t to be, as once again the Mercedes brain trust pulled a strategic coup at Red Bull’s expense, calling P2 Hamilton in for a surprise second pit stop on Lap 42 for a fresh set of Pirelli Medium compound tires. Red Bull failed to react to the surprise undercut in time and left Verstappen out, hoping that track position would trump tire life and performance. But it was Hamilton’s Silver Arrow that won that particular gamble, paying off the team’s gutsy move with the return pass for the lead on Verstappen, now helpless on his ancient 36-lap old set of Mediums, on Lap 60 of this 66-lap contest. While Verstappen was finally free to pit for fresh rubber and thereby set the fastest lap of the race for the bonus point, Hamilton simply scooted away to victory in deceptively dominating fashion, over 15 seconds ahead of the frustrated Dutch wunderkind. Hamilton has now won two races on the trot and three of the opening four rounds, proving once again that despite all the hype about Red Bull’s impressive pace improvements enabling them to take the fight to Mercedes, the English seven-time World Champion is still the favorite to win a record tying eighth title and Verstappen and Red Bull are still slightly behind the always superlative Silver Arrows.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas finished where he started, in P3, a decent enough result for the Mercedes number two man, though he once again suffered the ignominy of being told to move aside for Lewis to aid his ultimate pursuit of Verstappen and victory. That the Finn did it quite grudgingly and forced Hamirlon to expend valuable tenths in executing a rather legitimate pass for P2 at that critical moment speaks to Bottas’ frustrations with his standing within the team. Then again, if he wants to not be treated like a wingman he has got to up his game and prove that he is a match for not only Hamilton in the same equipment but also Verstappen in the enemy car. Frankly that seems highly unlikely, Valtteri’s own ego notwithstanding. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc drove an excellent race to come home P4, maximizing his very improved but still not elite Prancing Horse. His teammate Carlos Sainz finished P7, making it a pretty good points haul for the Scuderia and improving their chances of a P3 “best of the rest” finish in the Constructors’ Championship a year after they slumped to a lowly P6 in that all-important, cash-rich contest.

Sergio Perez fought back from a poor P8 qualifying effort to earn a fifth place finish. But Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate was unable to really act as a strategic force for the team in their duel with the two Mercedes by dint of his starting so far behind to begin with. The veteran Mexican is also going to need to raise his game and qualify better and soon if he is really going to be of any assistance to Verstappen’s perhaps wistful championship aspirations. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo has his best race with his new team, holding off Sainz and taking a solid P6 finish. The affable Aussie’s McLaren stablemate Lando Norris, who has generally outshined Ricciardo so far this season, finished in P8. But it’s very encouraging for the team that both their drivers appear to be able to score points on a weekly basis and that they seem have something for Ferrari. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon faded somewhat from the promise of his P5 qualifying position to come home in ninth, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly rallied after starting from twelfth on the grid and a 5-second penalty for lining up for the race outside of his designated box to take the last point in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 66 1:33:07.680 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 66 +15.841s 19
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 66 +26.610s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 66 +54.616s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 66 +63.671s 10
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 66 +73.768s 8
7 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 66 +74.670s 6
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 65 +1 lap 4
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 65 +1 lap 2
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 65 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time when the grandaddy of them all, the legendary Monaco Grand Prix, returns to the F1 calendar after a year’s absence due to the pandemic. While it certainly won’t be any easier to pass on the tight and twisty streets of Monte Carlo, Verstappen will surely be looking for a change of luck after two tough losses on the Iberian peninsula. Hamilton, on then the other hand, will be seeking to ride his hot streak all the way to that most prestigious of winner’s circles. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes 100th pole besting P2 Verstappen in Barcelona; Bottas qualifies P3

On a sunny, breezy day in Barcelona where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the time sheets in Q1 and Q2 and looked like he would cruise to an easy pole position, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton showed once again that you have to take the belt from the champ. The English seven-time World Champion pulled just that much more out of the bag in the final session of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix to become the first Formula 1 driver to reach the century mark in poles by a mere three-hundredths of a second over the Dutch hard charger. Building on his own amazing record and putting Michael Schumacher’s previous mark of 68 even further in the rearview, the mind-blowing 100th top starting spot will be all important at the highly familiar Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which all the teams use for pre-season testing and where passing is at a premium. The winner nearly always comes from the front row, so Verstappen’s disappointment at being bested by Lewis the Legend this day will be somewhat tempered by his starting alongside the lead Silver Arrow in P2, not to mention his minuscule fast lap time deficit to the points leader. Once again, as it did last weekend in Portugal, it seemed like the Iberian winds played a bit of havoc with the aero-sensitive cars, perhaps abetted by the relatively harder compounds Pirelli has chosen to provide for these two back-to-back races, for it seemed that improvement later in the qualifying sessions was hard to come by. We’ll see if tire strategy is as paramount and potentially surprising tomorrow in Barcelona as it was at Portimao.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate acquitted himself well enough in the face of the unquestioned brilliance of the top two superstars, qualifying P3 about a tenth in arrears of Verstappen. He will be flanked by the Ferrari of the increasingly confident Charles Leclerc in P4. With his Scuderia teammate Carlos Sainz setting the sixth fastest time, the Prancing Horses appear to have legitimately improved enough to contend for podiums this year, especially since the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez seems to be succumbing to the dreaded curse of being Verstappen’s teammate. The Mexican veteran had a lurid spin midway through Q3 when he dropped a rear wheel into the gravel and could only recover enough to take a rather poor P8. On the other hand, Esteban Ocon continued his strong start to the season for Renault-powered team Alpine by splitting the two Ferraris and grabbing fifth on the grid. Highlighting Ocon’s prowess in the A521, his two-time champion teammate Fernando Alonso was only fast enough for P10. And McLaren also had bit of a mixed bag, seeing Daniel Ricciardo recover from his inexplicable P16 quali flub in Portugal to take a P7 time but the normally impressive Lando Norris finishing the final session down in P9. Both the MCL35M chassis and Norris usually seem to have better race pace, and Perez will be looking to make up ground in a hurry, so look for a fierce battle throughout the midfield in the early going of tomorrow’s race, to say nothing of the intriguing duel for supremacy between Hamilton and Verstappen at the front.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.245 1:17.166 1:16.741 19
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:18.090 1:16.922 1:16.777 14
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:18.005 1:17.142 1:16.873 16
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:18.041 1:17.717 1:17.510 18
5 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:18.281 1:17.743 1:17.580 15
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:18.205 1:17.656 1:17.620 15
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.264 1:17.719 1:17.622 14
8 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:18.203 1:17.669 1:17.701 17
9 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:17.821 1:17.696 1:18.010 17
10 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:18.281 1:17.966 1:18.147 17

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM here in the States. Can Hamilton dust off Verstappen and give himself a little breathing room in the championship here in Round 4 or will young Max have a lesson of his own to teach the English master? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Mercedes’ Hamilton untouchable in dominant win at Barcelona; P3 Bottas’ poor start costs him as Verstappen seizes second place for Red Bull

In a largely procedural Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday at the hot and dry Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton streaked away from his pole position when the lights went out to start the race and never faced a real challenge for the entirety of the 66-lap contest. When the checkers waved Hamilton stomped the next closest pursuer, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, by a whopping 24-seconds and the only real suspense in the race was whether it might possibly rain and shake things up via forcing a scramble for wet weather tires. But the dark clouds remained in the distance closer to the mountains and the sun continued to shine on Hamilton here, as he easily wrapped up his fourth consecutive win at the Spanish GP and expanded his lead over Verstappen in the drivers’ standings to a 37 point bulge.

While the superb Dutch Red Bull pilot was never able to offer a challenge to the front running Silver Arrow, Max was able to gobble up Hamtilon’s teammate Veltteri Bottas to grab P2 from the Finn at the start of the race. In fact, Bottas had such a poor getaway that he also lost a position to Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and he quickly fell to P4. While Bottas was able to claw that spot back from the young Canadian it proved to be a crucial bit of lost momentum and he spent the rest pf the race in recovery mode. Even after taking a gamble by switching off of Medium Pirellis onto the ostensibly faster Softs for his second stop on Lap 48 to try and close the gap to the Red Bull, Bottas was unable to mount a sustained attack on Verstappen, who easily maintained a large gap to come home P2, albeit miles behind Hamilton. Bottas did score the extra point for the fastest lap of the race yet after another tire switch back to Mediums two laps from the finish but it was cold comfort, as he saw his own deficit to second place Verstappen grow to 6 in the Drivers’ points and 43 to the leading Hamilton.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The mini-Mercedes of Racing Point had another very good day with the returning Sergio Perez finishing P4 and Stroll P5 on the track but the two switching spots after Perez was penalized 5-seconds after a dubious stewards’ call dinged the Mexican for ignoring blue flags. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz got his best ever finish at his home GP with P6 while teammate Lando Norris,w ho seemingly had to fight tooth and nail for every position on the day, also finished in the points at P10. Ferrari’s beleaguered Sebastian Vettel had something of a mild personal victory after converting a one-stopper and a final stint on some very old Soft tires into a P7 result. But even when there is some sort of optimistic result for the fabled Scuderia something else seems to take the bloom off it in 2020. In this case, it was a mysterious electrical problem that cut Charles Leclerc’s motor while he was mid-dice with Norris on Lap 37. The unlucky Monegasque was forced to retire shortly thereafter. Also unlucky was Verstappen’s teammate Alexander Albon, who got stuck mired in traffic and on very slow Hard tires mid-race after a highly questionable strategic decision by the Red Bull brain trust. Albon gamely fought with a bevy of midfield runners to try and get further up the order but could only manage a P8 finish. The man who Albon replaced at Red Bull last year, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, was able to finish in the points after his solid qualifying effort by coming home P9.

Top 10 finishers of the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 66 1:31:45.279 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 66 +24.177s 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 66 +44.752s 16
4 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 65 +1 lap 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 65 +1 lap 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 65 +1 lap 8
7 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 65 +1 lap 6
8 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 65 +1 lap 4
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 65 +1 lap 2
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 65 +1 lap 1

Complete race result available via Formula1.com.

The drivers get anther little breather as the next race is in a fortnight’s time at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. Hope to see you then to find out if anyone can possibly slow down the Hamilton-Mercedes juggernaut — though I wouldn’t bet on it!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes pole in sweltering Spain to lead another Mercedes front row lockout, Bottas P2; Verstappen third quickest

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton laid the foundation to restore the narrative of Silver Arrows supremacy by streaking to a dominant pole position during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix. A week after he and the team were bested by a clever Red Bull and Max Verstappen for the victory at the 70th Anniversary GP at the second consecutive Silverstone race, normally Hamilton’s personal playground, the English points leader made himself at home at the familiar Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya by setting the fastest overall time and claim the all-important top spot on the grid, where pole position has converted to victory in 15 of the last 19 contests held here. His teammate Valtteri Bottas could never quite hook up the final sector of this twisty track and had to settle for P2, albeit less than a tenth adrift of Ham the Man. Verstappen was third fastest but will not be able to pull the strategic coup that led to his dominant victory last weekend, as the Dutchman will be starting on the same Soft Pirelli tires as the two Mercs in front of him for this sixth round constest. However, the extreme heat in Catalonia may cause issues for the Silver Arrows, as it did during a hot race in Spielberg, Austria earlier in the season, so look for Verstappen to pounce on any potential unreliability or tire issues should they occur. The possibility of rain on Sunday could also shake things up.

Sergio Perez was back after his two week COVID quarantine and celebrated by whipping his Racing Point up to P4 on the grid, while regular teammate Lance Stroll qualified just behind the Mexican veteran in P5. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate was one again underwhelming in quali and could do no better than sixth fastest. Perhaps there is something about being Max’s teammate that psyches these talented up and comers out? Or perhaps it is simply that Vertsappen is that superior to them in the identical equipment. McLaren’s resurgence continued with Carlos Sainz qualifying P7 and Lando Norris P8, proving the team’s solid pace so far in 2020 is no fluke. Meanwhile, Ferrari’s sad decline also continued, as Charles Leclerc languished down in P9, while Sebastian Vettel’s new chassis did not seem to help the bewildered German 4-time champ that much. He was only able to set the eleventh best lap and was once again bounced out in Q2. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, one of those ex-Verstappen teammates who failed to keep the pace when up with the big team, did well on his own terms to take 10th spot on the grid for Red Bull’s junior squad. The young Frenchman will be desperate to score some points come race day tomorrow after starting from P7 last weekend and then coming up empty.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:16.872 1:16.013 1:15.584 15
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:17.243 1:16.152 1:15.643 15
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:17.213 1:16.518 1:16.292 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 1:17.117 1:16.936 1:16.482 15
5 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 1:17.316 1:16.666 1:16.589 15
6 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:17.419 1:17.163 1:17.029 18
7 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 1:17.438 1:16.876 1:17.044 17
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:17.577 1:17.166 1:17.084 18
9 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:17.256 1:16.953 1:17.087 18
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:17.356 1:16.800 1:17.136 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here is the States. Hope to see you then to find out if anyone has anything for Hamilton — perhaps the heat will once again play havoc with Mercedes reliability? — or at least if Verstappen can best Bottas!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to victory in Spain, bests P2 Bottas for 5th consecutive Mercedes 1-2; Verstappen claims last podium position in P3; indecisive Ferrari miss out

With hís teammate Valtteri Bottas proving that he is a genuine threat for the World Championship this year, the veteran Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton showed his ability to raise his game in the face of stiff competition and dominated the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. Bottas, who was coming off an inspiring victory in Baku, Azerbaijan a fortnight ago, looked poised to extend his momentum after snatching pole in Saturday qualifying. But Hamilton got the better start from P2 when the lights went out and out raced his Finnish rival going down into pivotal Turn 1 of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Bottas would later blame a fritzy clutch for his boggy beginning and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel also pulled alongside him, momentarily making Bottas the meat in the sandwich. Hamilton then got the superior launch off the corner and pulled away, Bottas’ Silver Arrow squirmed under the combined break-acceleration effort required to avoid the two cars surrounding hime but was able to control his car with fast hands while Vettel locked up and flat-spotted his right front tire. That moment would prove to be the decisive moment for all three men in the contest.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Hamilton pulled a gap almost immediately, Bottas was able to recover enough to hold his P2 position and Vettel quickly slipped back into the clutches of his junior teammate, Charles Leclerc. And here Ferrari’s pit wall indecision would once again come back to bite them. With Leclerc harassing Vettel and clearly looking like the faster car as his German teammate struggled with that flat spot vibration, the Scuderia delayed the team order for their drivers to swap positions until Lap 12. And by then both Mercedes had disappeared into the distance. Vettel, who was practically pleading to pit for fresh rubber from the time he damaged his tires on the opening lap, was brought in on Lap 20 to get off the starting Soft Pirellis and onto the Medium compound tires. The stop was actually slow by about 2 seconds by modern F1 standards but the four-time World Champ promptly set the fastest laps of the race, proving that the Mediums were not greatly inferior to the Softs.

Meanwhile Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started from P4 and passed Vettel after the German’s initial opening lap bobble, pitted a lap later on 21 going from Soft to Soft, obviously signaling that he would be doing a two-stopper. Continue reading →