A not too spectacular race took place this weekend, which provided entertainment mainly due to the team fights of Mercedes and Ferrari and the catch-up race of Sebastian Vettel.
by Bruno Fleckenstein
Maldonado oversteered in a corner during the 1st qualifying session, skidded into the track barrier and came to a halt with a demolished front axle. This maneuver relegated him to last place on the grid. Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull suffered gearbox damage and was unable to set a time in Q3 and was moved back five positions due to a gearbox change. He therefore started the race from position 15. Ricciardo from 3rd on the grid, Bottas in 4th and above all Grosjean in 5th were the surprises on the grid, as was Räikkönen ahead of his stablemate Alonso, starting the race from 6th and 7th.
The race was characterized by strategy
The two Silver Arrows got off to a good start and retained the lead unhindered. Bottas (Wiliams), however, passed Ricciardo (Red Bull) for third. Grosjean (Lotus), Räikkönen (Ferrari) and Alonso (Ferrari) followed according to the grid. Vettel (Red Bull) tried to remain unscathed in the scrum of the rear places. Red Bull opted for a three-stop strategy for Sebastian Vettel and was therefore the first crew to start changing tires on lap 13. The positions in the front ranks did not change significantly from the start. On lap 24, Kimi Räikkönen attacked Romain Grosjean's Lotus in his Ferrari in the DRS zone, but Grosjean countered in the following corner. The Finn decided the battle for 5th place in his favor one lap later. And Alonso matched him one lap later. Meanwhile, Vettel was already ninth. Vettel went in for his second pit stop on lap 34 and dropped to 13th, ahead of Grosjean and behind Massa, who had already changed tires on lap 29. Alonso stopped on lap 36 and held 11th ahead of Massa.
In the last third of the race it became exciting once again
On lap 44, Lewis Hamilton switched to the hard tires for his final pit stop with a standing time of 4.3 seconds. His teammate Nico Rosberg changed to the soft tires two laps later and was about 4.5 seconds away from his teammate. He now started to catch up with the option tires. That made the race exciting again.
On lap 51, Rosberg set the fastest lap with 1:29:20 and was only three seconds away from Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel turned into the pit lane two laps later for his final stop. He caught Alonso a lap later after the latter had just lapped the track at the end of the pit lane. On lap 56, Vettel delivered the fastest lap with 1:28:942 minutes and had already distanced Fernando Alonso by 1.8 seconds and set about catching the second Ferrari, which was about 1.5 seconds ahead. Just one lap later, the German Red Bull driver overtook the second Ferrari and it seems that the three-stop strategy was the right choice. On lap 59, Vettel was advised over the radio to attack Bottas, who was ahead of him in 4th place. Nico Rosberg had made up ground on teammate Lewis Hamilton in the meantime, and with 1.189 seconds behind him, he was approaching the DRS window. One lap later, the German Mercedes driver lapped Romain Grosjean, who finished 8th in his Lotus. This made the superiority of the Mercedes team visible. Fernando Alonso was closing in on his stablemate Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel, on the other hand, was unable to pass Bottas even in the DRS zone. The Williams is strong and very fast. There were still 6 laps to go.
4 laps later, Alonso took 6th place and relegated Kimi Raikkonen to the rear. Vettel had passed Valerie Bottas in the meantime. On lap 65, the gap between Nico Rosberg and the leading Lewis Hamilton was half a second and it was not certain who would win the race. But Lewis Hamilton managed to fend off the attacks of his German teammate and passed the waving flag closely followed by Nico as the winner of the race and now the new leader of the overall standings. Daniel Ricciardo finished third and was on the Formula 1 podium for the first time.
Hamilton's 4th victory in a row and Mercedes' 4th one-two prove the overwhelming superiority of the Silver Arrows in Europe as well. Will Nico Rosberg succeed in repeating his victory of the previous year in Monaco? We will find out in 14 days.
Results Spanish Grand Prix 2014 / Laps / Time
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team / 66 / 1:41:05
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team / 66 / +0.6 sec.
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing / 66 / + 49.0 sec.
4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing / 66 / + 76.7 sec.
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams / 66 / + 79.2 sec.
6 Fernando Alonso Scuderia Ferrari / 66 / + 87.7 sec.
7 Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari / + 1 lap
8 Romain Grosjean Lotus / + 1 lap
9 Sergio Perez Force India / + 1 lap
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India / + 1 lap
11 Jenson Button McLaren / + 1 lap
12 Kevin Magnussen McLaren / + 1 lap
13 Felipe Massa Williams / + 1 lap
14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso / + 1 lap
15 Pastor Maldonado Lotus / + 1 lap
16 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber / + 1 lap
17 Adrian Sutil Sauber / + 1 lap
18 Jules Bianchi Marussia / + 2 laps
19 Max Chilton Marussia / + 2 laps
20 Marcus Ericsson Caterham / + 2 laps
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham / retired
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso / retired
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