Great first corner…not too much after that.
Lewis Hamilton dominated at the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes secured yet another 1-2.
On Saturday, Valtteri Bottas, in full Bottas 2.0 mode, produced a stunning qualifying lap to take pole from his teammate, Hamilton, by 0.6 seconds. People don’t tend to do that to Hamilton… The reigning champion said he “just didn’t put the laps together” but was determined to make amends come race day. And that he did. Good starts from Hamilton and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, combined with another poor one from Bottas, led to all three racing into the first corner side by side. Bottas found himself the filling in that sandwich and had to back out but Vettel, desperate to be the latest on the brakes, locked up and ran wide, handing second place back to the Finn. And from there, the remainder of the race turned out to be something of a formality.
Bottas believes his poor start was due to a mechanical issue rather than any failure on his part, saying “I had a strange behaviour on the clutch; biting, releasing, biting, releasing. I’ve never had it before. So I lost it there. I’m keen to find out why the start was so bad and why the issue happened.”
A late safety car, caused by a collision between the two youngest drivers on the grid in Lando Norris and Lance Stroll, closed the pack up but produced no further action at the front and Mercedes further extended their latest record, with a fifth consecutive 1-2 from the start of the season. Max Verstappen continued to impress with an excellent drive to take the final step on the podium, navigating the first corner with maturity and nous before flawlessly executing a move around the outside of both Ferraris when the chance presented itself.
Next up is the Monaco Grand Prix, where Mercedes have struggled in recent years. But judging by their performance in sector three at Barcelona – a sequence of slow corners, similar to the Monte Carlo track – where they were generally more than half a second faster than the Ferraris, another 1-2 is far from out of the question. It is beginning to look like Bottas 2.0 could be the only thing that keeps this championship interesting.
The Debate is Emphatically Over: Ferrari Are Just not Fast Enough
A result in Barcelona would have kept some hopes alive of the Scuderia taking the fight to Mercedes this year. But this was – along with the opening race in Melbourne – the most resounding defeat yet. Throughout pre-season testing, at the very same track, Ferrari had given the impression that they were the team to beat, but just over two months later the Silver Arrows were in a class of one. And to make it worse, their drivers’ squabbling for position arguably cost Ferrari third place to Verstappen.
Vettel’s daring attempt around the outside at the first corner ultimately ended in him running wide and, upon rejoining the track, he put his car very much in the way of Charles Leclerc. thus allowing Verstappen to sail around the outside of both red cars. From there, they never really challenged the Dutchman and instead got caught up again with whether to use team orders. Firstly, with Leclerc stuck behind Vettel, who was suffering with a flat spot from his first corner lock-up, and then the reverse when Vettel caught Leclerc with the young Monegasque on old, hard tyres. Hearing the two drivers’ team radios, it becomes clear that their respective race engineers were on different pages. In the situation where Leclerc was the driver in front, his engineer was somehow unaware that the two drivers were on different strategies. These are basic errors.
This was supposed to be Ferrari’s season. But, after missing out on potential victories in Bahrain and Azerbaijan through a combination of mechanical, operational and driver errors, they now find themselves 96 points behind Mercedes after just five races. Along with the obligatory aero update for Spain, a new power unit was rushed through and fitted two races earlier than planned. But the aero upgrade that Mercedes brought is believed to have been worth three to four tenths on its own and thoroughly trumped whatever improvements Ferrari had managed. It is starting to look like the Italian team are more likely battling Red Bull for second place than Mercedes for first, with team principal Matteo Binotto going as far as saying that the problem was “maybe even car concept”. If so, that is not going to be fixable during the season.
The Last Spanish Grand Prix?
The rumours are that this will be the last Spanish Grand Prix, for the time being at least and almost certainly with Barcelona as its venue. Spain is one of five races without contracts for next year, along with Great Britain, Mexico, Italy and Germany. The organisers for the Italian Grand Prix have agreed a deal in principle and Silverstone looks likely to follow. But there is apparently a good chance the other three could all fall off the calendar.
I would hope as a fairly recent addition, and with a clearly very passionate following, Mexico can figure something out. But Spain and Germany feel perhaps in need of a change. There have been few notable races in Barcelona’s 28-year history – barring Pastor Maldonado’s extraordinary victory in 2012 – and crowds this year have visibly reduced, most likely due to Fernando Alonso’s departure from the sport. Germany has been struggling for a while now, briefly alternating between the Hockenheimring and the Nürburgring, before the latter proved unable to host a Grand Prix any longer. And then having the event cancelled altoghether in 2015 and 2017. Spain and Germany are major European countries with a history of motorsport though so it would be good to see them reinvigorated and returned to the calendar in some way.
Whether as direct replacements or not, there will be the brand new Vietnamese Grand Prix and – expected to be confirmed on Tuesday – a return to Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix. We will have to see how these work out. Vietnam is yet another new location in Asia without any significant motorsport heritage and will be another Hermann Tilke-designed circuit. Zandvoort is in need of a significant upgrade in the next 12 months to be ready for F1. Both in terms of infrastructure and the track itself.
Maybe the Regulations Have Worked
Whilst there was little to no action at the front, the midfield teams all continued to duke it out for the positions around the fringes of the top 10. And that’s on a track where passing has always been difficult. Romain Grosjean’s Haas seemed to spend more time in the run-off area around turns one and two than on the track, after wheel-banging moments with his teammate, amongst others. Scenes that I’m sure led to a few more coins entering Guenther Steiner’s swear jar.
Throughout Formula 1.5, there was a decent amount of battling so, whilst nobody seems to be particularly discussing it, maybe the stop-gap regulation changes for this year have helped somewhat when it comes to the on-track action. That bodes well for the major regulation changes in 2021. We live in hope.
The Spanish Grand Prix in 60 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
Can anyone stop Mercedes and will Bottas 2.0 keep it up? An emphatic no to the first part and a tentative yes to the second. Bottas on Saturday was exceptional but Hamilton had him covered on Sunday.
With updates everywhere, will the pecking order change noticeably? Not particularly. Although Haas appear to have fixed their tyre issues and moved up the field.
Who will be the faster Ferrari driver this time? In terms of pure results, Vettel. But it was mostly strategy and a small error from Leclerc on Saturday that saw to that.
Will the Williams updates restore some credibility to the team? They were slightly closer to the pack – at least in the hands of George Russell – but there’s a fair way to go still.
Will anyone pull a Pastor Maldonado? That will be a no.
