Nico Rosberg answered his critics and responding back with victory at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The Mercedes driver led away from pole and remained unthreatened during the Spanish Grand Prix.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton recovered from a slow start and had to settle with second. At least he finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari thanks to a three-stop strategy.
By winning the race, Rosberg has reduced the gap to his team-mate to twenty points, with Vettel another 11 adrift.
This result showcase the sheer speed of the Mercedes W06 Hybrid as it remains the class of the field, especially aerodynamically which enhances the advantage.
After four exciting Grands Prix to start the season, the first European race will not go down as a thriller, with the track layout not helping in providing much overtaking.
That meant Rosberg, who had only led ten laps this season before arriving in Spain, was always going to be favourite for the win after taking pole position and the Mercedes driver duly controlled the race from the front.
Hamilton lost a track position to Vettel at the start and after struggling to find a way past, Mercedes called him in to the pits to try the undercut.
But a problem fitting the left-rear tyre lost Hamilton three seconds so when Vettel pitted the next lap, he easily came out in front of the reigning world champion.
When Hamilton was told by his race engineer that he had to pass Vettel on track, he responded: “I can assure you that’s pretty much impossible. Find another solution.”
When the Mercedes star pitted for the second time, taking on the hard tyres after two stints on the mediums, it became clear he was on a three-stop strategy.
In contrast, Vettel stayed out to suggest he was on a two-stopper. When the Ferrari driver pitted with 26 laps to go, he rejoined behind Hamilton, who was pushing hard to try to build a gap to enable him to pit and rejoin ahead of Vettel.
And it worked out, with the Silver Arrows exiting the pits after his third stop, and on fresher medium tyres, well clear of the Ferrari.
Hamilton traded fastest laps with Rosberg in the closing stages but the gap to his team-mate was too much to close down and had to settle with second to secure a 14th one-two as a pairing for Mercedes AMG Formula 1 team.
Valtteri Bottas finished fourth for Williams, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.
Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo continued his solid run in the points this season with seventh place, albeit it a lap down.
At least the honey badger was ahead of Lotus’s Romain Grosjean, who scored points for the third successive race despite a gearbox problem and overshooting his pitbox and scattering his crew, who were unhurt.
Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz, Jr finished ninth, after banging wheels and passing Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat on the final lap. The Russian completed the points-finishers.
Max Verstappen was P11 in the other Toro Rosso, ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr, while his team-mate Marcus Ericsson was two positions adrift in P14.
Both Toro Rossos swiftly fell back from their row-three qualifying positions.
Force India, which is expecting to have its updated ‘B-spec’ car in the Austrian Grand Prix, ended a difficult weekend with Sergio Perez P13 and Nico Hulkenberg P15 respectively.
McLaren-Honda’s wait for its first points of the season continues, with Jenson Button – making his one hundreth start for the team – P16 while his team-mate Fernando Alonso retired with brake problems after running in seventh on an alternative strategy.
There was a fright in the McLaren pit box as Alonso couldn’t slow his car down. Luckily, the front jack man jumped out of the way. Quick reaction to avoid serious injury.
Bad luck continued for the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado, who ran as high as seventh. He retired having driven much of the race with a broken rear wing.
The Manor-run Marussias brought up the field, with Will Stevens three laps down in P17 and Roberto Merhi P18, a further lap behind.
So an important victory for Nico Rosberg in terms of the championship. Just twenty points the difference between the Silver Arrows. While Mercedes recorded their 24th consecutive finish on the podium which means 70 points advantage over rival Ferrari.
Spanish Grand Prix, 66 laps:
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1h41m12.555s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 17.551s
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 45.342s
4 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 59.217s
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m00.002s
6 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m21.314s
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1 Lap
8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes 1 Lap
9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Renault 1 Lap
10 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault 1 Lap
11 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault 1 Lap
12 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1 Lap
13 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1 Lap
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1 Lap
15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1 Lap
16 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1 Lap
17 Will Stevens Marussia-Ferrari 3 Laps
18 Roberto Merhi Marussia-Ferrari 4 Laps
– Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes Retirement
– Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda Brakes
Drivers’ standings:
1 Lewis Hamilton 111
2 Nico Rosberg 91
3 Sebastian Vettel 80
4 Kimi Raikkonen 52
5 Valtteri Bottas 42
6 Felipe Massa 39
7 Daniel Ricciardo 25
8 Romain Grosjean 16
9 Felipe Nasr 14
10 Carlos Sainz 8
11 Max Verstappen 6
12 Nico Hulkenberg 6
13 Sergio Perez 5
14 Marcus Ericsson 5
15 Daniil Kvyat 5
16 Fernando Alonso 0
17 Jenson Button 0
18 Roberto Merhi 0
19 Will Stevens 0
20 Pastor Maldonado 0
Constructors’ standings:
1 Mercedes 202
2 Ferrari 132
3 Williams-Mercedes 81
4 Red Bull-Renault 30
5 Sauber-Ferrari 19
6 Lotus-Mercedes 16
7 Toro Rosso-Renault 14
8 Force India-Mercedes 11
9 McLaren-Honda 0
10 Marussia-Ferrari 0
Next race: Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo. May 21-24.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg admitted post-race that he was surprised by Ferrari’s Spanish struggles. Autosport.com has the story.
Spanish Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg was surprised by the advantage Mercedes enjoyed over its Formula 1 rival Ferrari this weekend.
Rosberg took a comfortable victory out front, while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton capitalised on a big pace advantage over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to use a three-stop strategy to jump ahead of the four-time world champion.
While Ferrari has regularly proved to be a thorn in Mercedes’ side so far this season, Vettel finished the race 45 seconds adrift of Rosberg with a heavily updated SF15-T.
When asked if the gap back to Ferrari was a surprise, Rosberg said: “Yes because it was much more than we have seen in recent races.
“It’s a big step in the right direction, a bit of a surprise, but it showed we have an awesome car at the moment.
“We won the development race this weekend so it is an important indication for the season.”
Third-place finisher Vettel dismissed claims that Mercedes has taken a big step forward over Ferrari, suggesting the increased gap was more likely down to the Barcelona track or conditions this weekend.
“I don’t think this is the reality,” Vettel said when asked if Ferrari had lost ground.
“If you take the average from the first five races then you have the reality.
“You have to be fair, and some tracks we will be more competitive than others.
“We are not happy with the gap – for some reason, we are not competitive here even though we have improved our car.”
Vettel admitted that Ferrari knew it did not have the pace to keep Hamilton at bay for the whole race, and that only the world champion’s slow first pitstop made the Italian team decide to cover him off strategically at that stage.
“I thought it would be tricky to keep him behind – they were a fair amount quicker at the end,” Vettel added.
“We were a bit lucky at the first stop, Lewis had a problem so we reacted well and managed to stay ahead.
“When he pitted early to go to three stops, our best chance was to stay out.
“With the speed Mercedes have it’s fair to stay they deserved to be in front.
“We’ve had some updates which have worked well, and I’m confident in the next couple of races we should be stepping up our game again.”
After finishing in a distant P16, Jenson Button has commented that the McLaren was ‘scary’ to drive. Autosport.com has the details.
Jenson Button said his McLaren-Honda’s handling in the Spanish Grand Prix was one of the most “scary” experiences of his Formula 1 career.
A race that the McLaren drivers thought might bring their first points of 2015 ended with Fernando Alonso retiring with brake problems and Button finishing a distant 16th.
“The first 30-odd laps were the scariest 30 laps of my life,” said Button.
“The rear just wasn’t there. Any time I touched the throttle at any speed, the rear was gone. It just wasn’t normal.
“The rear felt like it wasn’t connected to the front. It felt like every gust of wind had a massive snap.
“It was pretty horrific for the first half of the race. Switch changes and new tyres at the end helped a bit.”
Button was not sure whether the handling dramas were a set-up problem or mechanical issue.
“After today I don’t think I expect points at all this year, but hopefully today was an off-day. It didn’t feel right,” he said.
“The weekend has been reasonably good for us and I’ve been happy with the way the car’s been, but it was like flicking a switch in the race.”
Alonso ran as high as seventh on an alternative strategy, but had to retire after his brakes failed.
As he tried to bring the car back to the garage to retire, Alonso overshot his pitbox, with crew members having to jump out of the way as the car hit the front jack.
“It was scary. No brakes for the whole in-lap, and for the pitstop even less,” Alonso said.
“One lap before, I missed the first corner, and I was careful, but they were deteriorating even more, and at the pitstop I didn’t have any brakes.
“It was scary for the guys but luckily we didn’t hurt anyone and they were very fast on the reactions.”
He remained convinced that points were within reach had he managed to finish.
“A two-stop strategy seemed to work better for us this weekend,” Alonso said.
“The race was going more or less as expected, so I think P9 or P10 was possible today.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has urged Renault to prioritise performance over reliability with its Formula 1 engine, even if it means using 20 engines this season.
Renault has endured a disastrous start to the 2015 campaign, and Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo is already onto the final engine of his permitted allocation, meaning grid penalties for going over that limit are inevitable later in the year.
Ricciardo’s Spanish Grand Prix weekend was compromised by Red Bull trying to limit his engine mileage during practice, but Horner feels that Renault should shift its focus from reliability to chasing performance for the rest of this season.
“It’s positive that Renault have got four engines to the finish without any white smoke,” said Horner after the Barcelona race, where both Red Bulls were lapped.
“The focus desperately needs to turn to performance before too long. Renault have got things in the pipeline but it’s all a work in progress.
“Obviously they are nervous about reliability so I think it will be the second half of the year before we see anything significant.
“We’re so far on the back foot with reliability anyway that this year is pretty much a write-off, and you’ve just got to go for it even if you end up using 20 engines.
“It would be better to learn and make progress in preparation for next year than be conservative.
“It’s far easier to make a fast car or a fast engine reliable than it is a reliable car fast. Our philosophy has always been to push performance.”
Horner believes, however, that rather than simply holding back performance gains, Renault is yet to work out the best way to get more speed from its power unit.
“They know what the deficit is, the question is how are they going to make that up and that’s the bit they don’t know at the moment,” he said.
“They are looking at different solutions but they haven’t got a definitive direction yet.
“But hopefully they are homing in on that and of course things in the engine world seem to take an awful lot longer than in the chassis world.”
Source: Autosport.com
This is going to be a difficult season for McLaren and the 2009 world champion wonders whether the team will score any championship points this season. Reuters provides the news story.
Jenson Button questioned whether struggling McLaren would score any points this season after a Spanish Grand Prix he ranked among the scariest of his Formula One career.
McLaren have started their new Honda engine partnership without a point in five races, making it the worst start to a season for the sport’s second most successful team after Ferrari.
“After today, I don’t think I expect points at all this year,” 2009 world champion Button told reporters with a nervous laugh after finishing 16th and lapped at the Circuit de Catalunya.
His Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso, who had said before the race that he felt Sunday could bring McLaren their first points of a troubled season, retired before the halfway mark with brake problems.
However, despite Button’s pessimism, team principal Eric Boullier insisted that points were possible even in the next race.
“In two weeks’ time we’ll be in Monaco…we’ll be aiming to score world championship points on May 24th,” he said in a team review of the race.
Button, who had qualified 14th, made clear that just getting to the finish had been an achievement on Sunday.
“It was pretty scary to drive. Every time I touched the throttle, it just snapped. I am sure there is something wrong there,” he said.
“Hopefully, today was an off day. It didn’t feel right. It was like flicking a switch in the race. Not the easiest, and it was (like that) from the word go,” he added.
“The first 30 laps…were the scariest laps of my life.”
Alonso said his car’s brakes had failed on the lap before he was due to pit, and despite coming in at slow speed he overshot the mark and almost took out the front mechanic with the jack.
The team said the stop had been a precautionary one to examine the rear of the car, and mechanics had subsequently found a visor tear-off strip covering the right-rear brake duct.
The Spaniard still put on a brave face: “Things are coming together. We’re still a long way off the front and need to take bigger steps,” he said.
“This has been a disappointing day, but the team will investigate what happened, and we’ll come back stronger in Monaco.”
McLaren, eight times winners of the Spanish Grand Prix, have not won a race since 2012.
The Lotus Formula 1 team accepted that neither Romain Grosjean nor Pastor Maldonado should be blamed for their collision early in the Spanish Grand Prix.
A clash of wheels between the pair at Turn 3 resulted in Maldonado’s rear wing starting to fall apart, which later led to his retirement.
The team’s trackside operations director Alan Permane admitted the race was “a little bit messy” but he declined to apportion blame.
“Obviously having your drivers touch is not ideal and I can’t say it was one or the other’s fault, honestly,” he said.
“We’ve been through it all and had a look at the video. Everyone has got a slightly different opinion of it.
“I’ve said, ‘let’s not let it happen again’ as it could have been avoided I think, so that’s never nice.”
The damage to Maldonado’s car developed over the laps following the clash.
Lotus removed a section of the wing in an additional pitstop and later chose to retire the car.
“The FIA came on the radio and said they weren’t happy with the bit flapping around and I can understand that,” Permane explained.
“If that had come off it could have really hurt somebody – so we pulled that off.
“But then after the second pitstop there didn’t seem a lot of point in continuing really.”
Grosjean finished eighth despite overshooting his pitbox at his second stop and hitting some of his pit crew. No one was seriously hurt.
“Romain didn’t have the cleanest of races – hitting the pit crew is never nice – going off at Turn 1 was a little bit unfortunate as well, which led to that [Maldonado] incident,” Permane said.
“He unfortunately lost fourth gear quite early on and that hampered his race quite severely so he was having to shift straight from third to fifth from about lap 20.
“It feels a bit of a hollow one honestly. Qualifying 11th and 12th we were hoping to get up and beat a Red Bull.
“I said, ‘if we can beat and a Red Bull and a Toro Rosso and get a couple of points that would be great’.
“We did more than that, we beat three out of the four cars but, again, we should have had two cars up there.
“It’s a bit of a shame, we need to do a better job.”
Source: Autosport.com