This weekend saw the seventh round of the Formula One World Championship return to Spain for the Spanish Grand Prix. The race, which is held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, had a big change in store for the drivers, with the track layout reverting to it's original pre-2007 design, which omits the chicane in the final sector. But, did the exclusion of the chicane help improve racing as to what was expected? Let's find out!
After a long run of racing on street circuits, this is only F1's second visit to a traditional race track this season. Shocking, I know. But still, it's not always an easy track to drive around. Despite this, it didn't stop Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing from clinching his 4th pole position this year so far. A lot of drivers, such as Verstappen's teammate; Sergio Perez and Ferrari's; Charles Leclerc, struggled in qualifying and found themselves out of position, setting up a grid that would you make you want to grab your popcorn. Home hero, also of Ferrari, Carlos Sainz, qualified in second with a shock result for McLaren and Lando Norris when they placed the car in third. Things were looking spicy.
Race day and dark, ominous clouds are on the horizon despite there only being a 40% chance of rain. Cars up and down the grid are fitted with their tyres. The majority are on softs, a couple on hards and others, such as the Red Bulls, are on mediums. With the formation lap done, the cars line up in their respective grid slots. And then, they're off.
Sainz has a fantastic start, taking advantage of Verstappen's slipstream. But it's the latter that stays ahead going into turn one. Behind them, Norris finds himself being hunted by Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. They touch, damaging Norris' front wing. A trip to the pits means he is down to last. Lance Stroll, meanwhile, keeps his nose clean and gets past both Hamilton and Norris for third. Hamilton's teammate; George Russell, who was knocked out in Q2, is a big gainer on the opening lap and finds himself running in seventh. Race control are quick to note this as he went off track, but no investigation is necessary.
By lap six, Alfa Romeo and Valtteri Bottas come in to change tyres. It's the hard. And, he's not the only one with tyre issues. Nico Hulkenberg, in the Haas, is starting to struggle, with Perez passing him for ninth. Leclerc, who ended up starting in the pit lane, has only got as far as seventeenth but there is still a long way to go.
Back at the front, Verstappen is flying with over four seconds on second place man Sainz. Hamilton is now in third and hunting down the Spaniard after catching and taking back third place from Stroll. Russell, who had a great start, is still on a charge. He passes Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon for fifth. Alpine decide to pit Ocon on lap fourteen in the hope that the undercut will work. He returns to the track in thirteenth, in the midst of a threeway battle between Zhou Guanyu, Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda in the Alpha Tauri. Aston Martin, on the other hand, also pit their driver; Stroll, in an attempt to stop Ocon's undercut from working. Success. He's back out in front of the Alpine.
Lap sixteen and Sainz pits. He returns to the track in ninth with Leclerc ahead of him. His teammate quickly moves out of the Spaniard's way, letting him through for eighth. At the end of the lap, Leclerc also dives into the pits for Ferrari. Hamilton, who has inherited second from Sainz, tells his team that his tyres are still really good. He is staying out, for now. Another driver to pit is the second Alpine driver, Pierre Gasly. He has a slow stop that was caused by a sticky front-right tyre. He finds himself down in fifteenth. By lap twenty three, it's only both Red Bulls and both Mercedes that are yet to come in for fresh rubber.
Hamilton comes in only two laps later and returns to the track behind the Ferrari of Sainz. Within the next few laps, Verstappen, Perez and Russell also box. Back on track and the order is Verstappen, Sainz and Hamilton. Although, on lap twenty eight, with the help of fresh rubber and DRS, Hamilton passes Sainz for second. Russell, on the other hand, is also closing in on Sainz as well as reporting rain at turn five. He is quick to realise that this is just sweat in his helmet. On lap thirty five, Russell passes Sainz for the final podium spot.
Sainz, who is now in fourth, knows that Perez is the next car behind. He asks the Ferrari team to "find the best way to beat Checo." He (Sainz) is expected to pit again soon. His medium tyres are getting on a bit at over twenty laps old. Saying that, on lap forty two, he pits and comes back out in sixth behind countryman, Alonso. Back at the front, Verstappen's lead has now reached fifteen seconds with the Dutchman receiving a warning for track limits. He also complains about struggling under breaking and the tyres overheating. His gap to second place is large enough to cover a stop.
In the midfield, a battle is brewing for the final point paying positions. Hulkenberg pits again but has a slow stop due to an issue with the rear jack. It's an issue that the Haas team had earlier on in the race too. Has this taken the German driver out of the running for points?
Russell, who has also pitted again, finds himself behind Perez, but is out there setting purple laps, catching the Mexican in the process. He doesn't need to push too much, however, as Perez pits on lap fifty one and comes back out in fifth. Hamilton also pits from second. Down the start/finish straight, Alonso tries a move on Ocon who defends late, almost taking the Spaniard out of his home race. He gets through unscathed. With ten laps to go it's Verstappen who leads. Hamilton is in second with Russell and Perez in third and fourth. With Perez on fresher, soft tyres; could he catch Russell for the last podium spot?
Going back to the midfield battle and it's Ocon vs Tsunoda vs Zhou. Gasly isn't too far behind either. Heading towards turn one, Zhou has DRS on Tsunoda. They pull alongside one another into the turn but Tsunoda pushes Zhou onto the runoff which is something that the Alfa Romeo driver isn't too impressed about. Race control take a look at the incident and decide to send this one up to the stewards to investigate. The battle to watch though is Perez vs Russell with Perez taking a huge three second chunk out of the gap Russell has made on him.
Not far to go now and Verstappen has been shown the black and white flag for exceeding track limits one too many times. He seems confused though as to why he's been shown this warning. However, unsurprisingly, this doesn't stop the reigning World Champion from throwing in another fastest lap of the race. Every point counts at the end of the day. The Red Bull team are also coaching Verstappen's teammate, Perez, over the team radio. His attack on Russell seems to have slowed a little. He doesn't have many laps left to take the crucial third place away from the Mercedes driver.
Tsunoda, who is still running in the points, finally gets a verdict on his incident with Zhou. It's a five second time penalty for the Alpha Tauri driver. His chances of taking home points today has become non-existent with Gasly still lurking in the distance.
On the penultimate lap, Perez has gotten the gap to Russell down to three seconds. Unfortunately, it looks as if time is not on his side today with only one lap remaining. But up ahead, Verstappen is on his final lap and takes the chequered flag with a massive twenty two second gap to Hamilton. Russell holds off Perez for the final podium position.
It's a fifth place for Sainz who is followed home by the Aston Martins of Stroll and Alonso. Ocon is eighth. Tsunoda crosses the line in ninth but gets demoted to twelfth due to his five second penalty. Then comes Zhou and it's Gasly that inherits the final point. Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari leaves Spain pointless.
That was quite an entertaining race for the Spanish Grand Prix despite Verstappen's domination. There was plenty of on track action with battles all over the place that was certainly courtesy of the new track configuration.
As for the championship, Verstappen extends his lead over Perez even further. Surely, this is his championship to loose now? Can Perez break his unlucky streak and fight back? It's all to play for.
We now move onto Canada. A track that is known as the home of the "Wall of Champions" and that has delivered some fantastic racing in previous years. Until then, folks.
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