Motorsport Week reflects on some of the key talking points from Formula 1's Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton extended his points advantage on a strong weekend for Mercedes, while Ferrari struggled.
Hamilton rejuvenated, energised, dominant
There was not a single moment during the Spanish Grand Prix when Lewis Hamilton looked remotely beatable.
Hamilton edged an intriguing qualifying session, besting Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by the cigarette-paper width margin of 0.040s, but still reckoned the W09 was “a very snappy car” – though in race trim it was different matter entirely.
Only through the pit stop phase did Hamilton relinquish the lead to the yet-to-stop Max Verstappen, and his margin of victory over Bottas wound up at over 20 seconds.
It was in marked contrast to his difficult feeling with Mercedes’ W09 across the previous three events, and his enthusiasm post-race spoke volumes.
Hamilton’s dominance was such that he used much of the event as an extended test session, recognising the opportunity to soak up as much information as possible.
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“I was pushing every single lap using it as a test bench to understand what I liked about the balance and how can I play with it more and how can I squeeze more out of it and do all sorts to understand what more I can get from,” explained Hamilton. “When you do the debrief like I’ve just done I can be very, very particular and to the point of what I want them to work on. In that meeting there are a few key points that I’ll point out, like work on this, make that better and I’ll be faster. The cool thing about being a World Champion is the team naturally listens to what you say because you are not talking gibberish so they go away and focus on those areas, look at the data and try to work on it, it is an amazing process you do together when it comes back and it works.”
It was the Briton’s 64th F1 win – inching him closer to Michael Schumacher’s one-time insurmountable record of 91 – and his enthusiasm clearly demonstrated that his victory had been fully earned.
“I don’t know how I managed to fit in the training in between all the other things that I do but I was pretty fresh after the race,” he said. “That is another positive but I think not every win doesn’t feel as great as that one does. To think that is my 63rd, sorry 64th, it still feels like a first, special and unique in its own way. The journey to it is why it feels unique on its own but that is encouraging for me because I’ve been racing a long time so to still have that feeling when I have that win. That happiness and that uplift from inside that I have that feeling. I know I did my job this weekend to the maximum and I didn’t leave anything on the table so there is no better feeling.”
Now 17 points clear – despite a far-from-perfect start – and heading to a run of circuits that he adores, Hamilton is already emerging as a tough proposition to beat. Bear in mind, he did not lead the standings at all last year until September.
Ferrari falter, tired and tyred
Ferrari had squandered opportunities across the first four rounds but the positive was the pace and reliability of its SF71H, with Sebastian Vettel streaking to three straight pole positions.
Mercedes has typically held the advantage at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in recent years but even so, there was little positivity for Ferrari to take from the weekend.
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Vettel, having been forced into a two-stop strategy as opposed to the solitary service preferred by opponents, was a desultory fourth, with Kimi Raikkonen stymied by engine problems.
Vettel suggested that Pirelli’s decision to reduce the tread width of its tyres by 0.4mm – an approach it will also take at Paul Ricard and Silverstone in an attempt to reduce overheating at resurfaced punishing venues – did not aid its cause. But rather than point fingers outwards, those fingers were directed inwards.
“I think two things this weekend,” said Vettel, which soon expanded to three things. “One, we were not quick enough. If we’re not able to see that, we’re more than blind, because we didn’t have the pace in the first stint. Second, I think we struggled a bit over the course of the weekend with the tyres. They changed but they changed for everyone. Our ambition needs to be that we’re better off rather than worse off. That’s the second thing we need to focus on. Third, I think it was a poor weekend in terms of reliability. Kimi had an issue with the engine [in qualifying], had to change the engine and obviously retired in the race. I don’t know what happened. Overall, there are three things we must be able to see. If we don’t see those there are no excuses. I’ve said many times this team is strong and we have a lot of potential, but we also need to make sure we address the problems that we have and work together in the same direction. The season so far has been positive for us. [Spain] was not a good race but it’s important to understand why. You look back and you understand what is missing in the preparation to the race, or this race, or the next races.
“Short-term, we all had our updates for this race, maybe the others have brought more than us. On top of that, we had different tyres, which maybe suited others more than us. But what does it help? Why find excuses? Bottom line is we’re not quick enough to win. That’s what we have to address. Not did we have a disadvantage here, was that the case, was this the case, did the Safety Car help or not? In the end we weren’t quick enough and our tyres didn’t last as long as others. Otherwise I stay out, stay in front of Valtteri and finish second. It wasn’t an option and we finished fourth. We even got lucky with the VSC otherwise we would have been miles behind Max. That was the case.
Catalunatic
Romain Grosjean’s miserable season continued as he followed up his Safety Car prang in Azerbaijan with a first-lap spin that created a smoke screen into which his rivals plunged, with two of them unfortunate enough to strike the stricken spinning Haas.
Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly were all out on the spot, with the victims of the incident entitled to feel more than a little peeved at their opponent’s actions.
Grosjean kept his foot buried to the throttle believing that such an action – combined with his momentum – would take him across to the inside of the circuit.
The Stewards disagreed, calling Grosjean’s explanation “speculation” and stating that “[what] is certain is that while crossing the track in front of the following pack of cars, which he chose to do, that a collision occurred. Further, in reviewing the video, the Stewards found that the car was following the line on the left side of the track and was almost fully off the track, when he made the decision to cross it.”
For a driver with over 100 Grands Prix under his belt, and several years in feeder series, it was a baffling decision.
“My personal view is he could have done a much better job of that,” said Race Director Charlie Whiting. “He spun, and it’s very unusual to see a car light up its rear wheels like that on a first lap of a race when there’s another 10 cars to come. I think it was a little unwise of him to do that.”
Whenever there is a precarious situation – be it low-grip, torrential rain, or whatever – there is a tendency for the trouble to find Grosjean, or rather, Grosjean find the trouble. He was the only driver to lose it on the first lap of that race and in doing so not only eliminated two opponents but compromised several others too. The question now is whether he can ever escape the tendency to encounter problems – he must, surely, have to treat the rest of the year as a 16-race season and reset his focus heading to Monaco.
A marvellous midfield
The gaps between some teams remain intriguingly large – Kevin Magnussen highlighted Haas’ pace once more by finishing 36.7 seconds clear of Carlos Sainz Jr., just to ramp up the frustration of Grosjean’s mess – but the midfield order is typically reliant on getting everything correct, staying out of trouble, and mastering the strategy. Seven different teams occupied positions six to 12, all with tales of fortune or otherwise.
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Magnussen was a clear sixth, while Carlos Sainz Jr. was pleased with Renault’s turnaround after a difficult Friday as he took seventh – enough to lift the team above McLaren in the standings. Fernando Alonso turned weatherman for much of the afternoon as he longingly eyed the black clouds above Turn 3 in hope, though the prayed-for deluge never arrived – or at least not until around 90 minutes after the race, when it was more a miserable drizzly than a torrent of water.
Force India was next up as Sergio Perez rescued a pair of points at a circuit where the team has historically struggled (save its 2017 heroics), feeling “lucky” to have escaped unharmed when he struck the debris left by Max Verstappen’s broken front wing endplate. Perez utilised the Virtual Safety Car phase caused by the retirement of team-mate Esteban Ocon to make a free-ish pit stop and his fresher rubber took him past the Sauber of Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque youngster capped a fine weekend by taking the final point, a result he admitted was a “bigger surprise” than his sixth spot at the preceding event in Azerbaijan. Sauber expected the high-downforce nature of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to exploit the weaknesses of its C37 but the outcome was better than expected; Leclerc’s superb start took him past Alonso and he only relinquished the position when the canny Spaniard reacted better at the VSC restart.
Williams and Toro Rosso completed the one-by-one midfield contingent, with Lance Stroll excellent in race trim to finish just five seconds shy of Leclerc off the back of a weekend in which the FW41 was utterly abysmal, while Brendon Hartley was nine seconds down on Stroll, 24 hours after an enormous crash that destroyed the rear-end of his STR13. 13th-placed Marcus Ericsson pinpointed improving the rear-stability of his C37 over one-lap as key to his points prospects, reckoning his hopes were thwarted by his grid spot, while a downbeat Sergey Sirotkin was lapped three times in the “toughest race” of his career. A coy Sirotkin referred to a “dangerous” seat issue but was reluctant to divulge further details into the public eye. Sirotkin emphasised that he is still enjoying life as a Formula 1 driver – though conceded there was a little reality check as well.
“I know it sounds weird but I’m enjoying to play my role in the team,” he said. “Okay, we find ourselves in a difficult moment, but I’m enjoying to play my role in improving the situation and knowing I can do something and help. I am enjoying even if it is a difficult and demanding car sometimes, still enjoying to drive it and just again, it’s a tough weekend for us, when I’ve been back there in the GP2 paddock it seems like here is a dream but actually when you get here from the early morning to late in the evening you are completely flat out that you don’t see all of those nice things that you saw from out, but I’m enjoying to be here and be part of the game, that’s probably what keeps me motivated.”
Hakuna Makino
The halo is an unsightly device but it is extremely difficult to argue against its implementation after an incident such as the one that occurred during Sunday’s Formula 2 Sprint Race.
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The incident in question was not a terrifying fence-scraping barrel roll, or a pile-up involving half the field, but merely a clash involving two drivers – and as is often the case, the innocuous ones can be the worst.
Honda proteges Tadasuke Makino and Nirei Fukuzumi battled over the midfield spots when they clashed into Turn 4, the Arden driver having attempted a slightly optimistic move on his compatriot. The trajectory of Fukuzumi’s car took him over the side of Makino’s machine, and the marks on the upper sidepod and halo indicated that it was a job well done by the safety advancements.
“Judging by the photos we’ve seen, and the accident of course, it looks very much as if it could have been a lot worse without the halo, that’s the preliminary findings,” said Whiting, who confirmed an accident investigation will take place. “Where you see the tyre marks, one [car] got up and over the other one, I didn’t quite see how it happened. Where the tyre marks start on the halo is exactly where the test loads, or one of two test loads, is applied, so even if it didn’t actually save his life it could have been nasty without the halo, I would have said, judging by the track of the tyre marks.”
