Firstly, my apologies for the delay in uploading an article
reviewing the Spanish GP, but university deadlines have to take priority. But
like a Rosberg win, it has been coming. So here it is, better late than never.
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| A clean getaway for Rosberg. |
It took until the
fifth round of the championship for Rosberg to claim his first victory of the
2015 season and to outperform his Mercedes teammate following a dominant
weekend for the German. With each race going by it became increasingly vital
for Rosberg to dent Hamilton’s championship charge as the Brit was leading the
point race by 27 coming into this race.
Qualifying:
With the teams sporting a host of performance upgrades for
the Circuit de Catalunya, Q1 got under way and saw Ericsson drop out in the
first qualifying session putting an end to a string of fine Saturday performances.
The two Force India’s, restricted in their upgrades due to finance issues
qualified 17th and 18th with Hulkenberg piping teammate
Perez by a tenth of a second. Then followed the Manors who would line up on the
final row of grid. Stevens once more out pacing home man, Merhi.
McLaren, teaming a brand new livery on the MP4-30, were
looking to continue climbing through the pack and thanks to a reported array of
engine and aero improvement packages, both drivers made Q2 with the overall aim
of breaking into the points come the chequered flag. However, Q2 is where the
McLarens remained as Alonso qualified 13th ahead of Button and then Nasr,
the remaining Sauber driver. The two Lotus drivers just missed out on Q3 as
Grosjean beat teammate Maldonado for 11th despite a messy final
sector on the Frenchman’s flying lap.
Q3, the top ten showdown, saw an early gauntlet thrown down
by Rosberg as he was initially fastest. A sign of things to come from Rosberg
who knew more than anyone else that every run worse than Hamilton’s was a
mental gain for the reigning world champion. Not to be underestimated were
Williams who looked to pose a serious threat to the Ferrari’s for ‘best of the
rest’. Both Toro Rosso’s made the shootout as a statement of their reluctance
to accept playing as second fiddle to senior team Red Bull.
Hamilton failed to win the Silver Arrows duel and lined up
second behind Rosberg who finally put a stop to Hamilton’s run of consecutive
poles. A crucial lap for Rosberg as pole position has proved so pivotal in
taking the race win on this track in years gone by. Vettel lined up ahead of
Bottas, tooted to become potential teammates at Ferrari in the near future. Two
astonishing drives saw the Toro Rosso’s smash the Red Bulls and earn a deserved
5th and 6th. Spainard Sainz beating Verstappen for his
home race. Raikkonen, fighting for a contract extension, was only fast enough
for 7th ahead of Kyvat, Massa and Ricciardo who rounded out the top
10.
The Race:
Off the line and it was Rosberg who maintained the lead down
the calendar’s longest run into Turn 1. Hamilton started poorly from 2nd
allowing Bottas and Vettel to capitalise, but while the Ferrari streaked past,
Hamilton retook Bottas around the outside of Turn 1 to take 3rd. A
little further behind and Verstappen was now ahead of teammate Sainz. But with
a pursuing Raikkonen charging down on their gearboxes, the two youngest drivers
were picked off by the oldest as the second Ferrari passed Verstappen around
the outside of Turn 4 in an excellent move. The opening laps saw the grid’s
youth struggle as Russia’s Kyvat fell from 8th down to 13th.
Button meanwhile dropped to 17th.
Lap 4 saw Grosjean lose out to teammate Maldonado around
turn 3 and then to the Red Bull of Ricciardo just a few corners later. Thus
dropping the Frenchman down to 11th.
Lap 13 and Hamilton pitted in response to Vettel opting to
stay on track. But the strategy change was hindered as when switching to a new
set of medium tyres the rear right was delayed resulting in a tardy 5.3 second
stop which relegated Hamilton to 7th behind Maldonado. This was only
short lived as by Turn 4, the man from Stevenage was back in front of the
customer Mercedes car. Ferrari reacted as on lap 14 Vettel pitted for the
medium compound tyres also in an attempt to stave off the undercut strategy
being deployed by Mercedes. Vettel’s faster stop ensured he re-joined the track
ahead of Hamilton and in clean air. A lap later and race leader Rosberg entered
the pits. The number 6 car was only stationary for a mere 2.5 seconds before
returning to track in 2nd behind Raikkonen who was yet to stop.
Maldonado then had his car serviced and part of his rear
wing removed. A lap earlier, while re-joining the track following running wide
into Turn 1, teammate Grosjean just grazed the Lotus’s rear wing end plate and
that was enough to cause the plate to fail. However, Maldonado was able to race
on as the design of the wing means that all the structural support is in the
centre and not the end plates. But this did ensure his performance was hindered
from this point on wards as the car’s aerodynamics were unsettled.
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| Crashtor. |
Lap 25 and the other Lotus was in trouble. Over radio he was
instructed to lift when using the bad gears or else his engine would explode. 3
laps later and Fernando Alonso, the home hero, retired. This bizarrely enough
was from when he ripped off a visor strip from his helmet, as it became caught
in the brakes causing them to overheat and fail. As a consequence the front
jack mechanic was forced to leap out of the way of Alonso as he was unable to
stop the car when coming into the pit box.
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| Alonso's dramatic end to his race. |
The Spanish Grand Prix was far from developing into a
vintage classic as by Lap 41 the only real highlight was Hamilton passing
Bottas for 3rd. This caused
Vettel to pit early for the orange walled harder compound tyres putting the
German on a 2-stop strategy. It was not a good day to be front jack man as
Grosjean locked up into the pit box sending the mechanic in air and down the
pit lane. But there were smiles all around as the TV cameras switched to the
man holding a bag of ice over his groin just a few minutes later much to the
amusement of his fellow mechanics.
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| Pit stops and 'wheel' nuts |
Lap 45 and the call was made to Rosberg to come in for his
final stop and on to the harder prime tyre. 2 laps later and Maldonado retired
from the Grand Prix. Quite the change from his massively unexpected Williams
win in Spain 2012. Lap 52 saw Hamilton make his last change, and thanks to a
solid stint and far better Mercedes pit stop he leapfrogged Vettel to take 2nd.
The battle for 10th was between the Toro Rosso
teammates of Sainz and Verstappen. Running into the final chicane Verstappen
ran deep allowing Sainz to close up and pass on the home straight with the aid
of DRS. Then on the final lap Sainz
passed Red Bull’s Kyvat for 9th following a few touches and
exchanges of paint.
Then the chequered flag fell for Rosberg to take his first
win of the season. It was a dominant drive to take the win 17.5 seconds ahead
of teammate Hamilton. Bottas split the Ferraris as Vettel crossed the line for
3rd, Bottas 4th and Raikonnen 5th and then
Massa in 6th. Ricciardo was classified 7th ahead of
Grosjean. Sainz, despite dropping back from his qualifying position earned Toro
Rosso more points in 9th. Kyvat rounded out the top 10. Verstappen
missed out on points in 11th. Both Saubers and Force India missed
out on points as Nasr finished 12 ahead of Perez, Ericsson and Hulkenberg. The
McLaren team did not make the inroads they were expecting. Button could only
manage to beat the Manors of Stevens in 17th and Merhi in 18th.
Maldonado and Alonso failed to finish.
So after 66 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya it was Rosberg
who came out on top and looked thoroughly dominant in his 9th career
win. The gap to Hamilton in the Driver’s standings is reduced to 20 points.
Next time out, the narrow streets of Monaco.
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| The longer you wait the sweeter it tastes. |
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