The Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit De Catalunya can more often that not be a rather dull affair but this years edition was anything but dull. We had an intriguing and thrilling strategy battle unfold before our eyes as Mercedes and Hamilton used an early second stop and the tyre advantage that gave them to good effect and chased down the leader Max Verstappen who was struggling on his worn rubber. It was an exciting part of the race as Lewis set fastest lap again and again and caught Max earlier than expected to take his third victory from four races and make it his best ever start to a season.
The start of the race looked as if things might go the other way as Verstappen beat Lewis to lead at turn one, the second time this has happened this year after Lewis had the pole, but as the pit stops neared the Mercedes was right on Max’s tail and once RedBull pitted Hamilton stayed out to extend the stint. It appeared though that the reigning champions may have missed the chance to use the overcut to overtake Max by staying out to long and allowing the Dutchman to make the most of his new boots. And this is indeed what happened as after that phase Lewis was further behind Verstappen than he had been beforehand.
It is at this point though that the real intrigue started as around 15 laps after his first stop Hamilton stopped again and came out 23 seconds behind the leader who was clearly attempting to make it to the end with just the one stop. With 22 laps to go and 22 seconds to make up it was doable for Hamilton but certainly not locked in. As the saying goes “track position is key” and “catching is one thing but passing is another”. On this occasion however neither of those things proved too difficult for car 44 as the fresh rubber and Max’s old tyres meant that he was a sitting duck really. Hamilton closed the gap quickly. passing his team mate in the process and once up with Max wasted no time in getting past. I think RedBull and Verstappen could see the writing on the wall really, you be as defensive as you like but when your opponent has newer boots and you are on the main straight with DRS in use there is very little you can do. Once his fate had been decided Max made a second stop for new tyres to salvage the extra point for fastest lap, something he was able to do because Bottas in third had done the same thing.
And so for the second race in succession Lewis has come from behind to beat his rivals and show that his hunger for more success is as strong as ever. But whereas in Portugal RedBull probably would have thought being so close to the win was something to cheer about this week they will surely feel a bit deflated. Max resigned himself to the fact after the race that they just did not have the pace to win, so second was the best they could have hoped for but in this years title race they can ill afford to drop points to Lewis every race.
Bottas came home third and didn’t really play much of a part after losing out to LecLerc in the still improving Ferrari early on. In fact the main talking point of his race was when he was asked to let Lewis by after his second stop and chose to not make it that easy for his team mate. No damage was done but certainly Lewis lost some time in that moment and the management at Merc will take note as the time to sort next years line up gets close. Valterri is not at the moment doing much to cement his place in the team and I feel that Toto Wolff will be growing tired soon enough. The championship could be aided massively by the performance of the second drivers as the season goes on and this is something that Sergio Perez also has to think about as Christian Horner has already said that RedBull need him to be up there with Max.
Next year is on the mind of Lewis Hamilton as well as he has discussed his desire to get a new contract down with Mercedes before the mid summer break, anyone hoping that Lewis may elect to leave the sport may be disappointed. His desire to agree terms this early shows that he is not going anywhere, something that I am glad to hear. I feel that this season and the battle with Verstappen has energized Lewis even more, he likes the fight, he enjoys having to dig deep and that is when we see the absolute best from him I think.
Elsewhere on the grid Ferrari continue to look like a team on the mend and again picked up strong finishes, and Sainz seems to have found his feet with the machine now, these four races having given him time to find his feet in his new team. The same can be said for Ricciardo who looked better and more comfortable the the McLaren than at any of previous three races. There is still some way to go but it certainly looks like he has turned a corner. Team mate Norris seemed to have a tough weekend as he didn’t seem as strong this time but I think that this is exacerbated by the closeness of the midfield. Alpine again had a solid showing and Ocon in particluar was strong all weekend. Alonso while competitive and fighting does look like he is on the back foot so far, he will have make some progress as the season moves forward because he could find himself being over shadowed be his team mate.
In other news we will be awaiting news of the planned race in Turkey as the UK Government have not placed it on the green list of countries safe to travel so. This is not unsurprising and I wonder if we may have that event cancelled too. I would imagine some news of that my come this week.
So it is Monaco next in two weeks and I eagerly await one of the most special events on the F1 schedule. It was much missed last year and I look forward to seeing the cars take to the streets again, especially after the recent Historic and Formula E events at the venue.
My F1 talk 