Red Bull Motorsports
F1
Everything you need to know about the Spanish Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix by a comfortable margin from Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with Max Verstappen taking the final podium position.
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While the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix threated to ignite from time-to-time, the major talking point happened on the first lap. Romain Grosjean ran wide at the super-quick Turn Three, lost the rear end and slid sideways across the track, causing utter chaos as cars flicked left and right to avoid him. Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly were the unlucky victims, hammering into the moving barricade. Debris rained down. F1 at its most violent and spectacular.
Everything after that was something of an anti-climax.
At the start, ahead of the carnage, Sebastian Vettel had nipped into P2 ahead of Bottas. He held that position until an early pitstop, at which point Bottas lit it up, trying to retake the place with a string of fast sector times – but a slow stop saw him fit back in behind the German. Things honestly looked like staying that way until Vettel rolled the dice in the second half of the race.
The second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen retired on lap 25, promoting Verstappen to effective fourth and Daniel Ricciardo to fifth, but when Esteban Ocon’s Force India slowed to a halt and parked at Turn Five, a Virtual Safety Car changed the complexion of the race. Vettel reacted, and came in for a stop, the rest of the field opted to keep going, trying to eke the life out of their tyres with a long run to the flag. Vettel slotted back in between the Red Bulls.
Max Verstappen on the podium
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Getting heat into the tyres had been difficult all weekend, which make the restart tricky. Ricciardo had a spin, which didn’t lose him places but did put him out of contention for a podium. Verstappen tangled with the Williams of Lance Stroll while lapping the backmarker and lost a chunk of his front wing. It didn’t appear to slow him down. “I felt a bit more understeer in Turn Three and Turn Nine but I don’t think it affected me too much,” said Max. One for the aerodynamicists to ponder.
The rest of the race passed without incident. Vettel’s gamble failed, as many of the one-stop runners were able to increase their pace as the fuel loads came down. While there were a few incidents of front-locking – often a sign of worn-out fronts, Daniel Ricciardo was able to set a succession of new lap records towards the end of the race, suggesting the outcome wasn’t really in doubt. Hamilton crossed the line 20 seconds ahead of Bottas. Verstappen was a further six seconds back, followed closely by Vettel. Ricciardo was the last man on the lead lap. Kevin Magnussen took an excellent sixth for Haas, Carlos Sainz took the battle of the Spaniards with seventh for Renault, ahead of Fernando Alonso, eighth for McLaren. Sergio Pérez was ninth for Force India, and Charles Leclerc took the final point for Sauber.
After two races injected with late-race drama, this one felt a bit flat – though not for a jubilant Hamilton who professed himself to be enjoying a rare afternoon of comfort with the W09, for which he thanked his crew. “ These guys have done an amazing job and I’m just really proud of everyone. Today, the car and myself, I felt that synergy, which I hadn’t been feeling for the whole year. It’s a good feeling,” he said at the flag.
The Goldilocks zone
A new track surface this year, and new, thinner tyre tread this weekend, gave the drivers plenty to think about at the Circuit de Catalunya with most having a good moan about how difficult it was to get the tyres to work: tough to get up to temperature, but also tough to prevent overheating, left many struggling for grip, causing most to have an off-track moment at some point over the practice sessions, suffering a public defenestration while searching for the nebulous operating window. The softer tyres were the most unpredictable – which is why much of the field opted to spend most of the race on harder medium compound
Williams
The Circuit de Catalunya is often held up as the track where you find out who has a good car. The car capable of winning here is capable of winning anywhere – because the layout provides a very thorough examination of everything. The rarely-mentioned corollary is that while it highlights a good car, the circuit also shows up a bad one. The Williams FW41 sank to the bottom of the field in Spain, and over the course of the weekend seemed to spend more time in the gravel than it did on the tarmac. Robert Kubica kept it on the black stuff in FP1 but politely described it as ‘very difficult to drive’, race drivers Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin didn’t fare so well, and were flattered by 11th and 14th in the race.
F1’s European vacation
The modern(ish) F1 schedule is a sandwich construction with a European filling squashed between two layers of rather more exotic flyaways on the top and bottom of the calendar. It means Spain can be the first race of the season for many people in the paddock. The teams have their trucks and motorhomes around for the first time, which leads to an army of truckies, riggers and hospitality staff descending on the circuit – but there are also more marketing people, more guests and just a generally busier atmosphere. Heineken’s paddock bar also puts in its first appearance of the year and (not that we’re suggesting a link) many of the less-committed members of the media appear out of their burrows for a first look also. The latter leads to the peculiar situation of many people having to answer the same set of questions they faced in Australia all over again.
The times they are a-changin’
The first race in Europe also means the first race for F1’s new CEST standard start time of 15.10. That’s freaking everyone out because the timing for the whole weekend is worked out back from the race start time, everything has been thrown off by an hour. Given the old system has been in place for several millennia the change is taking a little getting used to. Though the real reason much of the paddock has the knives out for the organisers is that they announced the changes after everyone had booked their travel for the season. The hurried Sunday night grand depart is thus predicted to be the sort of mad stampede not seen since the great red flag panic of the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.
Local heroes
Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso each had grandstands named in their honour this weekend, filled with appropriately attired fans. No driver tries harder than Fernando Alonso. Given T-shirt cannon responsibilities, the double world champion attempted to maximise his distances by taking a run-up, attempting to reach the audience in the back row of his eponymous grandstand. He and Sainz finished seventh and eighth and did a very nice formation cool-down lap.
Quick Dan
Daniel Ricciardo in the wall
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Daniel Ricciardo set a new lap record of 1m 18.441s, destroying the previous mark of 1m 21.670s, set by Kimi Räikkönen back in 2008. Circumstances didn’t particularly favour a lap record today, with most cars one-stopping onto the harder – and therefore slower – tyre mid-race. It suggests that when F1 gets to two-stop circuits, and drivers do a final stint on the softest compounds, there may be some truly jaw-dropping times in store.
Lewis record
Lewis Hamilton has reached the point in his career where records are falling with machine-like regularity. Today the Mercedes driver took his 41st victory from pole position, beating the mark he previously shared with Michael Schumacher. Lewis is very humble when it comes to analysing his achievements. “I remember like it was yesterday, sitting at home playing a computer game… as Michael,” he said after the race. “It’s surreal that every now and then I come up against him for records. It’s an honour when his name is brought up and mine is brought up at the same time.”
Race results
Hamilton wins for the second race in a row, with Bottas coming home in P2, ahead of Max Verstappen.
Max on the podium!
The Dutch driver enjoys a great result in Spain.
Verstappen hits Stroll
Max Verstappen has run into the rear of the Williams. The Dutch has damaged his front wing.
Massive crash at the start
"Massive crash, massive crash, I cannot believe it," was the heartbroken message from Pierre Gasly.
Enjoy the Quali in just 60 seconds...
Daniel Ricciardo prepares himself for the final practice
The Australian wants to put his head down in the Spanish F1 Grand Prix.
Big moment for Brendon Hartley
Heavy impact for Hartley at Turn 2. He's out of the car and he's OK. Unfortunately, following his crash in FP3, Brendon Hartley won't participate in the Qualifying session.
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