Tag Archives: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Hamilton leads Mercedes to front row lockout with pole, Bottas P2; Vettel good enough for P3 for Ferrari

After lucking into a win at Baku two weeks ago at the expense of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton beat Valtteri Bottas to the pole at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday the old fashioned way: he earned it. The reigning World Champ mustered just enough speed at Barcelona, the track that every F1 driver knows better than any other, to best Bottas for the top spot on the grid by a mere .04 seconds. Hamilton’s 1:16.173 lap shattered the old track record and Mercedes appeared to sandbag Ferrari after the legendary Scuderia started strong in the earlier parts of qualifying, appearing for all the world that they would put a Prancing Horse on pole. But in Q3 it was clear that the Silver Arrows still had supreme pace at this most familiar circuit, which all the teams use for pre-season testing and at which Mercedes has now won the pole for the last seven years straight. In the end Sebastian Vettel could do no better than P3 with his teammate Kimi Raikkonen just behind him in P4. It was Mercedes’ first front row lockout of the year and should make for a very interesting opening lap to the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday as both Ferraris will be lined up directly behind. This is a very difficult track to overtake on so look for a frantic start.

Red Bull ran its customary third fastest pace, at one point putting a scare into Ferrari by leading them in the early part of Q3 but then settling into P5 and P6, with Max Verstappen just pipping Daniel Ricciardo for those third row honors. Let’s hope they can keep from taking each other out like they did in Azerbaijan while they fight for intra-team glory and perhaps a sneaky podium if misfortune should befall one or more of the Mercs and Ferraris.

Further back in the field, Haas had a very good qualifying session with the aggressive Kevin Magnusson setting the pace over his more inconsistent teammate, Romain Grosjean, P7 to P10. Fernando Alonso also performed well in front of his home crowd to push his McLaren up into a P8 starting spot. Fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz was the lone Renault in Q3 after Nico Hulkenberg couldn’t get out of the first session with fuel pickup issues and he did decently to set the ninth fastest time.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Toro Rosso’s Brendan Hartley had a scary shunt in Free Practice 3, losing his car at high speed going into Turn 9 after putting a wheel on the grass. He bashed into the SAFER-style barrier rear end-first and did tremendous damage to his chassis. While there was no way the team could get the car repaired in time for quali the Kiwi was thankfully unharmed. The error did not do any favors for Hartley’s chances of keeping his F1 seat with Toro Rosso, however, when rumors had already been swirling about his possibly being replaced mid-season.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:17.633 1:17.166 1:16.173 17
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:17.674 1:17.111 1:16.213 14
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:17.031 1:16.802 1:16.305 16
4 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:17.483 1:17.071 1:16.612 15
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:17.411 1:17.266 1:16.816 15
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:17.623 1:17.638 1:16.818 19
7 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:18.169 1:17.618 1:17.676 27
8 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 1:18.276 1:18.100 1:17.721 21
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:18.480 1:17.803 1:17.790 19
10 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:18.305 1:17.699 1:17.835 26

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on EPSPN2 starting at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if mighty Mercedes can maintain their momentum or if Ferrari (or perhaps even Red Bull) can spoil their fiesta!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton reigns in Spain after besting Vettel in thrilling duel; Riccardo third for Red Bull

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

In the young season’s best race so far, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton gave everything he had to come out on top in a mano-a-mano duel with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. Hamilton started on pole but made a less than spectacular getaway that saw him quickly passed by Vettel as the lights went out. But Hamilton survived a big bottleneck in Turn 1, which was more than could be said for Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s young phenom Max Verstappen. With Mercedes’ second driver Valtteri Bottas looking for an advantage over Raikonnen on the inside at that pivotal first bend, the two cars touched wheels. That sent Raikonnen’s blood red Ferrari across the track and into the ambitious Vestappen’s Red Bull, who had also stuck his nose into the melee on the outside, terminally damaging both vehicles’ suspensions. In less than a lap, two premier runners were out of the race and Vettel had lost a crucial ally.

Nevertheless, Vettel swanned away from the pack and up the road, leaving Hamilton to bide his time and settle in for the chase. Vettel pitted early on Lap 14 for another set of  the better performing soft tires, on which he had started the race, while Mercedes ran both Hamilton and Bottas longer, with Hamilton going to Lap 21 and then switching to the slower but more durable medium compound Pirellis. And with Bottas yet to come in that enabled the Finn to hold up Vettel somewhat when the German Ferrari man was desperate to put as much distance between himself & Hamilton while on the superior soft rubber. That small impedance by the second Silver Arrow may have proved pivotal as Hamilton did not lose as much time as he might have without Bottas’ entirely legal obstructions. Vettel managed to pass the Finn on Lap 25 and Bottas subsequently let his teammate by quickly and then came to the pits for his first stop and his own set of medium tires on Lap 28, indicating that Mercedes were committing to a 2-stop strategy for both their cars while the sole remaining Ferrari’s options remained open.

And then Mercedes, which had been caught flat-footed in the season opener that saw Ferrari outsmart them for a Vettel win in Australia, had the strategic coup of the race. Continue reading →

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Hamilton takes pole in Barcelona over Ferrari’s Vettel; Bottas P3 in second Silver Arrow

Eager to regain his momentum after a disappointing fourth place finish in Russia two weeks ago, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton stormed to a blisteringly fast pole position on Saturday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. With most of the cars sporting significant upgrades entering Round 5 and the beginning of the pivotal European portion of the Championship, Hamilton ran a remarkable 1.19.149 lap during the latter part of Q3. It was good enough to keep him in front of the hard charging Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel on the warm and windy track if only by a scant .05. Hamilton’s Silver Arrows teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who is coming off the high of his first F1 win at Sochi, was not quite as quick as the elite top two despite pushing his ride to the limit. That separated Bottas from his teammate and pushed him onto the second row in P3. Vettel’s Prancing Horse teammate Kimi Raikkonen slotted in alongside Bottas in P4, once again seeming to be very fast in all the practice sessions but then missing that final special something when the real qualifying began.

The two Red Bulls struggled for top end speed and stability somewhat versus their top-flight opposition despite their own upgrades. Max Verstappen once again outpaced his senior teammate Daniel Ricciardo, P5 to P6. McLaren had a surprisingly good day coming off a huge oil leak issue in practice, with Spaniard Fernando Alonso vaulting his troubled chassis all the way up to P7 despite a serious lack of track time. Must have been the home cooking and tennis break on Friday while the mechanics scrambled to fix the Honda-powered car. Spain will be Alonso’s last race before he skips Monaco and takes on the daunting challenge that is the Indianapolis 500 in two weeks. He and the team would dearly love to grab some points before that cross-continetal adventure after a slew of DNFs to start the season.

Rounding out the Top 10, the two Force Indias once again made a very representative showing, with Sergio Perez qualifying P8 and young Esteban Ocon taking P 10 on the grid. Felipe Massa spilt them with his P9 time for Williams.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:20.511 1:20.210 1:19.149 12
2 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:20.939 1:20.295 1:19.200 16
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:20.991 1:20.300 1:19.373 15
4 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:20.742 1:20.621 1:19.439 14
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:21.430 1:20.722 1:19.706 12
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:21.704 1:20.855 1:20.175 12
7 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN HONDA 1:22.015 1:21.251 1:21.048 15
8 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:21.998 1:21.239 1:21.070 14
9 19 Felipe Massa WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:22.138 1:21.222 1:21.232 15
10 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:21.901 1:21.148 1:21.272 17

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on NBC Sports at 8AM Eastern here in the States. With Ferrari nipping at Mercedes’ heels and Lewis Hamilton desperate for a win it should be all to play for on a track these drivers all know so well. Hope to se you then!