Barcelona winner Lewis Hamilton after the Parc Fermé race
Photo:Albert Gea / AP
Driver of the day: It describes the entire tragedy of Sebastian Vettel. The four-time Formula 1 world champion finished in seventh place at the Spanish Grand Prix - and was voted the best driver of the sixth race of the season. Despite a chassis change, his car remains a historically slow Ferrari. Vettel started the race from eleventh place, remained stuck in midfield for a long time and only moved further forward when the other drivers changed tires and he decided on a one-stop strategy. There are six World Cup points for this, Vettel is in eleventh place in the overall standings.
The race result: Lewis Hamilton wins the race ahead of Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. It was Hamilton's 88th Formula 1 success and 156th podium. Next record broken. Here is the race report.
Verstappen's "anomaly": Quite a few experts declared Verstappen to be the favorite to win before the race. Even Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff pushed the pursuer to become the favorite. But then the Dutchman had to have his engine changed shortly before the start, Red Bull had discovered an "anomaly" in the data and played it safe. Since it was a used drive, Verstappen escaped a penalty. However, the replacement engine lacked the Silverstone upgrade - the Hamilton challenger started the race weakened.
The starting phase: what makes the six-time world champion Hamilton and team-mate Bottas different? There are a few points, one of which is reliability at the start. Hamilton regularly manages to maintain his good starting positions - in Barcelona he took the 92nd pole position of his career. Bottas doesn't always manage that, as it does now on the Circuit de Catalunya. The Finn fell behind Verstappen and Lance Stroll. The following laps behind the Racing Point driver took Bottas the chance to attack Verstappen earlier.
Lewis Hamilton (front) is in the lead after the first corner in Barcelona, team-mate Valtteri Bottas (right) falls behind
Photo:HOCH TWO / Pool / Emilio Morenatti / HOCH TWO / Pool / AP
The thing with the material: Only seven laps had passed, when Verstappen was amazed on the pit radio about the supposedly slow driving style of Hamilton. The lead in this phase was just over a second. But the 22-year-old Verstappen did not give himself too much hope, because Hamilton drove deliberately in overdrive. After the massive tire problems at the Silverstone races, Mercedes opted for a tire-friendly speed. Instead of overtaking maneuvers, the race in Barcelona was all about material conservation.
Record Raikkonen: Hamilton is actually the man for the records. But Kimi Raikkonen interfered briefly in Barcelona. The Finn, who clashed with Haas driver Romain Grosjean in the battle for 14th place and described him on the pit radio as an "idiot", broke the sound barrier of 83,846 kilometers in Formula 1 on lap 38. More than any other driver him.
Hamilton decides for himself: In the final phase of the race, the leading trio had to change tires for the second time. Verstappen started on lap 41, Bottas followed seven laps later and had soft tires put on. Shortly afterwards, Hamilton was called to the pits, but he stayed outside because the Briton did not want the soft mix chosen by the team. So his crew had to reschedule without further ado, on the 51st lap Hamilton got medium tires. That is probably a six-time world champion bonus. The 35-year-old won by almost eight seconds.
Outlook: Formula 1 treats itself to a free weekend, on August 28th training will continue in Spa. In the Ardennes classic, Mercedes will do without the so-called party mode in qualifying for the first time. Verstappen then hopes for more equal opportunities in the fight for pole position.
Icon: The mirror