FORMULA 1

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON: HAPPY TO GIVE ADVICE ON MIAMI F1 TRACK LAYOUT

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has cast an expert eye over the proposed layout for a street race in Miami next year and was not impressed.

The Mercedes driver indicated at the Spanish Grand Prix on Thursday that he had been underwhelmed by what he had seen so far.

“I don’t get why, for example, in golf, all the great golfers design golf courses,” the Briton, winner of 63 races and four world championships, told reporters.

“You have not got any of the top racing drivers in history having ever designed a race track, and I don’t get it. Not that any of us are designers, but they haven’t asked for our input.

“Miami is a super-cool place and I was very excited to hear about it, but when I saw the layout I was like, meh. I think it could be a lot more fun,” he added.

The City of Miami Commission was due to vote on Thursday on a proposal to authorise city manager Emilio Gonzalez to negotiate a contract with Formula One by July 1.

City commissioner Ken Russell posted a potential track layout on Twitter last week with most of the course in the port area and featuring a loop around the downtown American Airlines Arena along Biscayne Bay.

“You have got two of the longest straights, but maybe when you drive it it will be fun,” said Hamilton. “I dread the thought of a street circuit like we had in Valencia, which wasn’t a great street circuit.”

“Maybe it is a hit, but if there is time and anyone wants to approach me or any of the drivers, I am sure we can give some good insight to what the layout is like and how it can be better.

“I know Miami quite well, so there are a few better locations (in which) to put the track.”

Formula One chairman Chase Carey said on Wednesday in a Liberty Media conference call with analysts that he hoped and believed the race would happen.

“We think this race could probably be a real signature race for us on the schedule,” he added.

[MIKA27]

FIA: AERO RULE CHANGES TO MAKE F1 CARS SLOWER IN 2019

Aerodynamic rule changes are expected to make Formula 1 cars one-and-a-half seconds slower per lap in 2019, the governing FIA said on Thursday.

Speaking at the Spanish Grand Prix, the International Automobile Federation’s head of technical matters for single seater racing, Nikolas Tombazis, said race performance would definitely be affected.

“We expect this rule change to be approximately halfway or one third … less performance,” the former Ferrari chief designer told reporters. “So we expect to lose about one-and-a-half seconds maybe. But it’s a bit difficult to predict exactly the amount of development the teams will put on.”

The FIA this month announced modifications to the front and rear wings and front brake ducts for next season to make it easier for cars to follow each other and increase overtaking.

The measures followed research carried out by most teams and backed by commercial rights holders Liberty Media.

[MIKA27]

VETTEL: SO FAR WE CAN BE HAPPY

Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel started the season with victories in the first two races of the season and although they faltered in the last two races, the German is not concerned that he has lost ground because the season is long.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, Vettel said, “So far we can be happy. We have been very competitive and have had a chance to fight for the win in most of the races.”

At the same time he is wary of the challenges that are likely to be posted by Mercedes and Red Bull, “It is very tight at the top and small things can make the difference. But it’s nice that whether you start first or sixth, you can fight for the win in terms of pure performance – which is good for people watching too because you don’t know what will happen.”

“There are so many races to go that it’s pointless to talk about the fight for the championship. Right now, there is a fight to maximise the result in every race.”

“It’s pretty straightforward for a long time. If you can get the best result every weekend you are racing that will bring you to a good position to fight for the championship but that is not until October,” added Vettel.

Ferrari have not won in Barcelona since Fernando Alonso took victory at the 2013 race, while Mercedes have won the race at the venue three times since then.

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON: I HAVE ZERO COMFORTABILITY

Lewis Hamilton leads the Formula 1 world championship standings by four points, but the reigning world champion admitted that he has yet to find his best form despite winning last time out in Baku.

He told reporters ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, “At the moment I am punching below my weight – and that is not sufficient to win a world championship.”

“I have zero comfortability. Since the last race l have not thought for one second that I am leading the world championship.”

“At the moment we are capitalising on surrounding circumstances that have hindered the outcome of a race. I’ll take it for now but in the long term I can’t continue to rely on it.”

The Mercedes driver was referring to his somewhat fortuitous victory at the recent Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Hamilton continued, “If this weekend we start to get on top of the issues we have had and we are more consistent then l will be a lot happier.”

“The problem is that the tyres are shifting from session to session. We change the balance of the car but it doesn’t correlate It’s like a moving target which we are struggling to steady. That’s really what we are working on.”

As for Circuit de Catalunya, Hamilton added, “We were very good here in winter testing and we have definitely improved since then. But Red Bull and Ferrari made a bigger gain than us from testing to Melbourne so we expect again a very close fight. But we left testing with a good set-up and that should help us.”

Hamilton won last year’s Spanish Grand Prix and, with his winner’s trophy from the 2014 race, has thus won twice at the venue.

[MIKA27]

HAVE VERSTAPPEN AND RICCIARDO SERIOUSLY WISENED UP?

Red Bull teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will remain free to race each other despite their Azerbaijan Grand Prix collision, but both expect Red Bull to step in if the situation looks like overheating in future and for now there is clearly a truce between the pair – the question is how long will it last?

Speaking to reporters ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, the Australian and his 20-year-old Dutch teammate said there had been a lot of discussions to clear the air between all parties back at the factory.

Ricciardo explained, “I think if it got to that point again where there’s banging wheels and stuff, especially if the car’s faster behind, then you’d probably expect at some point they’d go: Let’s swap cars and release one of them. There’s no guarantee but that was one thing we certainly talked about.”

Ricciardo smashed into the back of Verstappen’s car while attempting to pass in the race two weeks ago. Both retired on the spot. They had banged wheels before then and the eventual accident came as little surprise.

Red Bull principal Christian Horner refused to blame one driver over the other at the time and said both were “in the doghouse”.

Verstappen said relations between the drivers, who get on well, remained good, “We have a lot of respect for each other and we realise that it was a mistake. There are no bad feelings at all, two or three millimetres more margin in future.”

Asked about so-called team orders being applied, Verstappen — who is seen as the team’s future and, unlike Ricciardo, has a long-term contract — indicated that would depend on the particular circumstances.

“Maybe if it’s like Baku again, I think at one point the team will say: OK, maybe calm down a bit and just follow each other the last few laps. I don’t know. But I think in general they still trust us and we also understand we don’t want that to happen again.”

Ricciardo, a winner in China last month, said it was not just about the drivers, “Obviously we are the drivers; we created, in the end, the incident. But it was an accumulation of events and it was important to address all areas.”

“I don’t think it was just us in that moment. There was a build-up and maybe a way that we could have responded better, whether it was releasing a car or something. A lot of things we talked about.”

Both drivers were reprimanded by stewards after the race and Ricciardo accepted that, “I don’t feel guilty but I understand what they needed to do. In the end, I have no problem with that.”

For now, it appears that there is peace in the Red Bull camp, how long the lasts only time will tell. Meanwhile, the team are also well versed in attempting to manage feuding teammates thanks to the years when Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber shared pit garages.

[MIKA27]

McLaren unveils radical updates ahead of Spanish Grand Prix

McLaren’s updated MCL33, featuring a radical front-end upgrade as well as other tweaks, has broken cover ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The updated nose section was presented in the pit lane on Thursday evening at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as the team took the car to scrutineering.

Stoffel Vandoorne had promised earlier on Thursday that the MCL33 would “look quite different”, as the operation bids to close the gap to the front-runners.

“What counts for us is how the car will handle and how it will perform on track, we’ll see tomorrow a bit more already I think,” said Vandoorne.

“We’ll have two busy sessions where we’ll try a lot of various things across both cars to understand this package, then we’ll know a bit more tomorrow about performance.”

Vandoorne added that “probably the entry of the corners is an area where we could extract a bit more I could say, the rear stability in the car,” when discussing the MCL33’s updates.

McLaren holds fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship, having scored points at each Grand Prix, but its qualifying pace has been a primary weakness.

Neither Vandoorne nor McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso have escaped Q2 yet this season.

[MIKA27]

Meanwhile in court...

Vijay Mallya has suffered a serious setback in the high court in London with a judge ruling that a legal judgment against him in India can be enforced against his assets in England and Wales, which means that they may be seized and sold. The ruling, handed down by Andrew Henshaw QC, was sought by a consortium of Indian state-owned banks to which Malaya and various of his companies owe more that $1.3 billion. This follows an Indian ruling in the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Karnataka in January.

“There is a risk of the value of Dr Mallya’s assets deteriorating, and, or, being subject to claims by other creditors, and a risk of Dr Mallya being declared bankrupt,” Henshaw wrote. “Dr Mallya’s departure from India, to where he has never since returned, and his resistance to India’s application to extradite him to face trial on serious criminal charges, provide some grounds for regarding him as a fugitive from justice.”

The case sets a precedent allowing the use of worldwide freezing order when enforcing judgments. An application to appeal was rejected on the grounds that there is a serious risk that Mallya could dispose of his assets, referring in his response to Diageo money that Mallya placed in trust funds for his children and to a valuable sword that he claims to have given away. Mallya was ordered to pay costs of $300,000.

Mallya is still waiting to hear whether the extradition case against him in the UK will go ahead but remains in the UK with his creditors now able to sell his assets.

It is not clear whether his shares in Force India will be covered by the order. The team is owned by a Luxembourg holding company and his shares are controlled by a company in Mauritius. However, Mallya needs to live and is used to an expensive lifestyle and so he maybe need to sell assets elsewhere. His partner in Force India, Subrata Roy of Sahara, in similar trouble in India last week agreed to sell the Plaza Hotel in New York.

[MIKA27]

Romain Grosjean: Haas' season has been 'opposite to McLaren'

Romain Grosjean says Haas’ season has been “the opposite of McLaren’s”, after a spate of setbacks for him and the team.

Haas has regularly had the fourth- or fifth-fastest car in Formula 1 this season but heads into the Spanish Grand Prix eighth in the standings, just a single point clear of Sauber.

Cross-threaded wheel nuts robbed Kevin Magnussen and Grosjean of a potential fourth and fifth in Australia, while the Frenchman lost a bargeboard in Bahrain.

Neither driver profited from the timing of the Safety Car in China, while in Azerbaijan both Magnussen and Grosjean endured strife, the latter crashing out behind the Safety Car, while set for sixth.

McLaren, meanwhile, has failed to progress through to Q3 but has scored points at each Grand Prix, and holds fourth in the standings.

Commenting on his own, and the team’s, setbacks, Grosjean said: “I mean it’s racing. You can’t control everything.

“We’ve seen what happened in Australia, it was unfortunate, what happened in Baku, was unfortunate and then China we got the Safety Car exactly at the wrong time for us.

“In Bahrain we lost parts that we had to pit the car to remove them so if you look at the season itself, if you look at the results, it’s not a great start, you can say worse than that.

“If you look at the facts, it’s not as bad as it looks, it’s actually quite a good season.

“We’re probably the opposite of McLaren who have been lucky all the time in order to be up there and finished the races to get good opportunities and we’ve been pretty much the opposite.”

Grosjean added that Haas is not unduly concerned by its missed opportunities and emphasised that it has 17 races to make amends.

“I mean if you look at 2016, if we hadn’t finished sixth and fifth in the first two races we would have scored P8 in Austria and P10 in the U.S. so [it would have been] five points and we ended with 29,” he said.

“We’ve missed luck and I made a mistake in Baku, the team made a mistake in Melbourne, it happens.

“I think it’s not positive or it’s not useful to look back, it’s like here we should have done that, here we should… what happened, happened and unfortunately yes we are here as a team with 11 points and it’s clearly not where we should be.

“But again we’ve got 17 races to go and we are going to push has hard as we can.”

[MIKA27]

Sergio Perez podium 'hard to swallow' - Esteban Ocon

Force India's Esteban Ocon has admitted that Sergio Perez's podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was "a hard one to swallow" although the Frenchman believes that he will have other chances to finish in the top three this season.

In Azerbaijan, Ocon out qualified Perez for the second time this year to start in seventh place and despite having a strong start, failed to complete the opening lap of the race after colliding with Kimi Raikkonen in Turn 3. 

Amidst the carnage, Perez was able to pick up the pieces, benefitting from a double retirement for Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, a flat spot for Sebastian Vettel and a late-race puncture for Valtteri Bottas to stand on the final step of the podium.

"For sure it’s a hard one to swallow even though it’s great for the team, in the end, to get a comeback like this from a strong weekend where we had great pace and we made a step," said Ocon ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix. 

"A hard one to swallow myself but it’s important to take the positives, which was a strong weekend for us and good points for the team.

"We needed that. In the end whether it was me or him we needed that. It’s a shame that I retired on Lap 1, it was close with Sergio [Perez] at the start and that would have been terrible because we had the pace to do well. Let’s see if we can get the step from Baku."

When asked if he thinks he can claim his maiden Formula 1 podium this season, Ocon said: "I want to definitely. I think we will still have our chance. We don’t know [what] can happen this season but yeah why not."

After four races, Force India sits in sixth place in the Constructors' Championship, locked in a five-way battle for supremacy in the midfield. 

[MIKA27]

Ferrari unveils radical Halo-mounted wing mirror design for the Spanish GP

Ferrari has unveiled a radical approach to the mounting of its wing mirrors following a recent FIA clarification, which allows them to be attached to the Halo.

Formula 1 introduced the Halo for 2018 after trialling the device for a couple of years, with the series having strived to increase head protection.

Development around the Halo is limited, with small aerodynamic fairings the limit of what can be attached to it. However in late-April the FIA's single-seater technical boss Nikolas Tombazis sent a technical directive to all ten teams confirming that the mounting points for the mirrors could be moved to the Halo, following a request from a team.

In the note, Tombazis confirmed that as long as they were "sufficiently rigid to ensure that the mirror does not vibrate too much, which would limit driver visibility," then it would be allowed. They cannot be attached to both the chassis and Halo.

Ferrari's design, unveiled on Thursday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, is the first to feature the design and also features two small winglets which sit above the mirrors.

[MIKA27]

Jenson Button: Fernando Alonso is 'one of the drivers you worry about'

2009 Formula 1 World Drivers Champion Jenson Button has admitted that Fernando Alonso is "one of the drivers you worry about" as the former McLaren driver gears up to compete against his former team-mate at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month.

Button and Alonso, who raced alongside one another at McLaren from 2015-2016 for two of the Woking-based team's three years with Honda power, will both compete in the iconic 24 hour race next month for SMP Racing and Toyota respectively.

With the drivers holding a combined tally of 47 grand prix wins and 147 podium finishes during their time in F1, the race at Le Mans will mark the first time that the pair will have raced against each other since the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with both drivers competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship's premier LMP1 category.

"He's definitely one of the drivers you worry about," Button told Sky Sports. "Whatever you're racing in, if he's competing - you're going to worry.

"He's not just quick. He's a very clever driver, he's got the experience and he is always there. If you have a great day, you might out-qualify him and you might have a great race but he will always be on your heels. He very rarely has a bad race, which is tough when you're team-mates with him.

"We're going to go into Le Mans racing against each other and I know if we're in a stint together, he's not going to put a foot wrong. It doesn't matter if it's 3 o'clock in the morning or 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he's going to be 100 per cent.

"You've got to keep up with that and it's tough but that's what I love about racing against the best drivers in the world. They keep you on your toes," he added.

Holding two victories at the Monaco Grand Prix and after contesting the Indianapolis 500 last year in a McLaren-backed Andretti Autosport entry, Alonso is aiming to secure the triple crown in motorsport, now looking to 13.626 km long Circuit de la Sarthe track where he aims to claim victory.

With Button also holding a victory in Monaco, which was the product of his championship year with privateer team Brawn GP, the Briton could near closer than Alonso to the triple crown if he ends up standing on the top step of the podium at Le Mans this June. Despite this, however, Button ruled out an entry in the Indy 500:

"I'm going to leave that one for Fernando to do. This is pretty much the busiest season I've had in my career," he told Sky Sports, competing in the GT500 category of the Super GT Championship for Team Kunimitsu.

[MIKA27]

FIA hopes to drop "necessary evil" DRS in 2021

FIA single-seater technical chief Nikolas Tombazis hopes that DRS will be dropped from the all-new 2021 F1 rule package, labelling the overtaking device a "necessary evil".
The power of the DRS has been increased with the new aero rules recently passed for 2019-'20, but that is seen as a temporary solution from the starting point of the current cars.

Tombazis is working on the 2021 rules in conjunction with FOM's team of engineers led by F1 chief technical officer Pat Symonds, and the hope is that DRS won't be necessary with the new aerodynamic package. F1 boss Ross Brawn has made no secret of his dislike of the system.

"It is right that there's this underlying discomfort with DRS, and I share it as well," said Tombazis. "I know Ross has made similar comments, and so on.

"We feel that DRS is the right thing to have in the present state of things. And for 2021 we hope that the cars will be much more able to follow each other closely, and it will be a really nice outcome if we can severely decrease DRS in the future, or even eliminate it.

"But until we get in a position where we are comfortable enough with the wake performance and how cars can follow each other I think it's something that I would call a necessary evil perhaps at the moment."

Tombazis is confident that the more powerful DRS will have a positive impact on racing in the interim seasons of 2019 and 2020.

"The DRS effect will increase by approximately 25-30%," he noted.

"That is the delta of the drag of the car when it opens the DRS and deploys it to current will be bigger, so the delta of speed of the following car will as a result be bigger by that amount. Hence the probability that you can approach the front car will increase."

Race director Charlie Whiting stressed that a key aim of the 2019 change was not to make overtaking easier as such, but to make DRS effective in more locations.

"The main advantage to us is we'll be able to make the DRS effective on shorter straights," said race director Charlie Whiting.

"At the moment we're trying to lengthen zones where we can, in places like Melbourne for example, maybe an extra DRS zone in Canada, those are the sort of places where with this extra power from the DRS we should be able to make them work a bit better."

Whiting stressed that the FIA carefully tunes the length of the DRS activation zone.

"We look at how effective the DRS is at each circuit, and then we try to tune it in order that you have to be within four-tenths of the car in front to make it work.

"Four-tenths is quite a difficult gap to get to, so if you can get to that, and you've got the length of straight, you should be alongside by the time you get to the braking point. That's how we do it now.

"If we can do that with shorter straights, it's going to work on more tracks. It won't be more effective in that sense if we still tune it in the same way.

"Even though it does have increased power, we'll be able to use it in more places, but we don't necessarily want to make overtaking on a given circuit easier. We still want the drivers to have to work for it."

[MIKA27]

Haas beefs up bodywork to stop parts breaking off

The Haas team has beefed up its Formula 1 car's bodywork after several instances of parts breaking off from the VF-18 already this year.
After some of Haas’s aerodynamic parts first broke in pre-season testing, Romain Grosjean’s car shed bargeboard pieces in the Bahrain Grand Prix and Kevin Magnussen’s did the same during Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying.

Haas team principal Gunther Steiner said the team had identified the problem when asked by Motorsport.com about the run of broken parts.

He explained that the team’s solution did not involve a fundamental design change, “just making the parts stronger”.

Steiner added: “It was difficult to fix it. We were always behind with the production of spare parts because we had failures.

“When you have to make moulds, and you’re already behind on spare parts you need moulds to make, it’s just so difficult to catch up.

“You’re already starting with lean spare [parts] availability, plus you have to make them stronger.

“We know what is wrong but we just had to catch up and get it right.

“I think we are now on top of it and the upgrade kit has all that we learned integrated to it.”

Steiner said Haas did not have time to “completely redesign everything” and he could not say “100%” there would be no repeat of the failures.

The revised parts have not coincided with an overall upgrade, with the team bringing “very little” to Barcelona.

F1’s Spanish GP has traditionally been a place where teams introduce new packages, but Haas will wait until further in the season to bring new developments.

“We’re not bringing a big upgrade package here,” said Steiner. “We’re bringing one later.

“We decided to develop a little bit longer. We were quite competitive here in testing, there was no point to rush it and then be short on spares.

“Monaco is coming after and the risk is high to have accidents there.

“We decided maybe it’s better to go slower to go faster instead of panicking into something and tripping up.”

[MIKA27]

Williams chief designer out after 12 years

Williams chief designer Ed Wood has left the Formula 1 team after 12 years in the role, the Grove-based outfit has confirmed.
In a statement released to Motorsport.com, the team said that Wood's exit was his decision, one taken "for personal reasons".

Wood, 50, held prior roles at F1 teams Ferrari and Renault before joining Williams in 2006 on the back of a stint as a chief designer for Prodrive and its Subaru works programme in the WRC.

The news of his exit was communicated in Barcelona, the venue of the fifth round of the 2018 F1 season.

"We can confirm that Ed Wood has decided to leave Williams for personal reasons," the statement read.

"As Chief Designer, Ed has been instrumental in many successes during his time with the team, including the FW36 and FW37 cars which secured third place in the constructors’ championship in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

  

"The team would like to express its gratitude to Ed for his hard work over the past 12 years; his experience, skill and passion for engineering has been a huge asset to Williams."

Wood's exit comes against the backdrop of a recent recruitment drive undertaken by the British outfit, which took on Paddy Lowe from Mercedes as chief technical officer and ex-Ferrari man Dirk de Beer as head of aero last year, as well as appointing Doug McKiernan, formerly of McLaren, as chief engineer.

Williams has had a difficult start to life with its new FW41 chassis in 2018, and currently sits last in the constructors' standings on four points.

The news marks the third recent high-profile departure among F1 tech personnel, following exits for McLaren chassis chief Tim Goss and Sauber technical director Jorg Zander.

[MIKA27]

Alonso casts doubt on future in ‘sad’ F1

With his first race win in five years finally in the bag, Fernando Alonso could yet look outside Formula 1 when deciding his future.

Although the double World Champion re-signed with McLaren last season, revealing at the time that it was a multi-year deal, he has combined his McLaren driving duties with a World Endurance Championship run.

While that means a very busy schedule, it has also meant a first race win since 2013 with Alonso and his Toyota team-mates taking the chequered flag last Saturday at the Six Hours of Spa.

And that could yet be where his future lies.

“I’m attempting two World Championships at the same time,” he said during Thursday’s FIA press conference for the Spanish Grand Prix.

“I’m happy with the progress we did here at McLaren and the direction things are going so I’m happy here. But it’s quite demanding – especially the F1 calendar.

“The biggest thing here is how predictable everything is. We can put in the paper now what would be the qualifying here on Saturday, what it would be in Monaco, what it would be in Silverstone.

“So that’s something you need to take into account for future decisions. This is sad in a way for Formula 1, the direction everything went.”

The Spaniard, though, insisted that his WEC win would have no bearing on his decision.

“Last week’s win won’t change anything for me as they are two different series and two different worlds,” he said.

“It won’t change anything for me. Any time I’ll have a car close to victory, I’ll go for it.”

The double F1 World Champion added hat he has lost none of the motivation that carried him to back-to-back titles in the mid-2000s with Renault.

“I kept the motivation because I’m competitive,” he added.

“I love to race, I love to win. I did much better races in the last five years than I did previously, even if I was not to win a race.

“The Baku race, I will probably never do a race as I did in Baku, and I finished seventh.

“It’s difficult to see from the outside but you’re extremely proud and motivated every time you do a one-off performance.”

[MIKA27]

Barcelona Thursday Press Conference | 2018 Spanish Grand Prix

 

[MIKA27]

Spanish Grand Prix F1 track guide

Fernando Alonso's Virtual Hot Lap of Spain | 2018 Spanish Grand Prix

 

[MIKA27]

SPANISH GRAND PRIX: HAMILTON’S DEMOLITION JOB

Lewis Hamilton led home his teammate Valtteri Bottas to claim a one-two for Mercedes at the Spanish Grand Prix, the Silver Arrows showing the devastating pace and dominance of old, a marked step-up in performance since Baku as the first leg of the European season gets underway.

Apart from a first lap crash that eliminated three drivers on the spot, the race turned into a procession as Hamilton powered into the distance, Bottas crossed the line 20 seconds behind with no way to challenge the reigning world champion, leaving their rivals in their wake.

The first lap melee ensued when the field powered clumsily through the Turn 1 – Turn 2, cars darting into gaps, the Haas of Romain Grosjean drifted wide, got loose and spun the Frenchman across the track and crashed into the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg and clipped the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly.

For some reason, Grosjean kept his foot down and causing his tyres to burn-out and smoke up which blinded the drivers behind him.

By the time the dust had settled Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Gasly were out.

At the front, Hamilton will have seldom won a grand prix with such ease and his third victory in Barcelona sees him extend his lead in the world championship to 17 points over Sebastian Vettel. 

Hamilton said afterwards, “I couldn’t have done it without this incredible team. These guys have done an amazing job and I’m just really proud of everyone.”

“Today the car and myself, I felt that synergy which I hadn’t been feeling for the whole year. It’s a good feeling. This is when we’re going to start trying to continue to apply the pressure. A one-two for the team. I hope we can continue.”

Bottas added, “I wanted to fight for the win but as a team it’s such a good race. We had such a good car and the team were so reactive today with the strategy. I never believed we could do a one-stop but we could, so I’m happy.”

Max Verstappen survived clipping the back of Lance Stroll’s Williams, to claim third place. Capitalising on a strange strategy call by Ferrari to leapfrog Sebastian Vettel and then hold off the German until the chequered flag waved to end the race.

Verstappen summed up his afternoon, “The car was working really well. It’s really hard to pass but we just stayed close to everyone in front of us. We got the luck with Kimi retiring. But the tyres were handling really well so I think that gave us third today.”

Ferrari took a gamble with Vettel by stopping him a second time, during a VSC period but for some reason, he could not make a dent on Verstappen’s third place in the final chase to the line.

Fourth place was Vettel’s reward for his day at the office, on a forgettable day for Ferrari who retired Kimi Raikkonen when the Finn lost power and spluttered around to his garage before they switched off the car.

Danel Ricciardo was unable to match the pace of his teammate in third, but did show flashes of speed as late in the race he was among the fastest out on track. Fifth was his reward.

Haas and Kevin Magnussen continued to impress, the Dane not putting a foot wrong on his way to a lonely sixth place.

Carlos Sainz survived the first lap confusion and thereafter gave a solid display to finish seventh, ahead of fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso who claimed eighth place after a day he spent racing while praying for rain, but despite some ominous clouds the rain never came. 

Ninth place went to Force India’s Sergio Perez, who was again solid despite the attrition with Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc again boosting his shares with an impressive performance on his way to claiming the final point.

Blow-By-Blow Report

Vettel had stolen second place from Bottas in a dramatic start to the race, but the German then pitted early to change to medium tyres. Red Bull’s chasing drivers meanwhile went deep into the race before taking on fresh tyres and when a Virtual Safety Car was deployed after Force India’s Ocon stopped at the side of the track, Ferrari elected to pit Vettel for more tyres.

He ceded position to Bottas and Verstappen but in the late stages of the race he couldn’t find a way back past the Red Bull and he was forced to settle for fourth.

When the lights went out for the start, Vettel got away well and using the slipstream created by the Mercedes ahead the German rounded Bottas on the outside to steal P2. Further back, Haas’ Magnussen had to correct in mid-corner in Turn 3 and directly behind his team-mate Romain Grosjean was forced to brake hard.

The Frenchman went into a spin, sliding off the track and then back on – into the path of Renault’s Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso’s Gasly. The collision was significant, though all three drivers escaped unhurt.

With debris scattered across the track and three cars requiring removal, the Safety Car was called into action and stayed on track until the end of lap six.

On the re-start the frontrunners all held their position, with Hamilton leading Vettel ahead of Bottas, Räikkönen and the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Ricciardo, Further back McLaren’s Alonso was the only driver to make a significant gain in the re-start, passing Force India’s Ocon to claim the final points position of tenth.

The race then settled until Vettel triggered the pit stops at the end of lap 17. The German took on mediums and rejoined in P7 ahead of SAI. Mercedes responded, pitting Bottas, who also took mediums, but a slow stop, allied to Vettel blasting past Magnussen into Turn meant the Finn could no pass the Ferrari.

Räikkönen caused the next shift in the order on lap 24. Verstappen, who was right behind the Finn reported that the Ferrari had some kind of engine problem and within moments Räikkönen slowed dramatically.

Verstappen and Ricciardo blasted past the Ferrari as Räikkönen was told the stop the car but the Finn eventually brought his car back to pit lane where he retired from the race.

Ahead Hamilton pitted at the end of lap 25, taking on medium tyres and slotting into P2 behind new leader Verstappen, though the Red Bull and third-placed team-mate Ricciardo needed to pit.

The Australian was the first of the Red Bulls to pit, at the end of lap 33, with Verstappen pitting a lap later. Both took on medium tyres to go to the end of the race. The order now saw Hamilton lead Vettel by 10 seconds with Bottas third ahead of Verstappen and Ricciardo. The Red Bulls though had much fresher rubber than either Vettel or Bottas, both of whom had made early stops for new tyres.

On lap 41 Esteban Ocon pulled over at the side of the track and the VSC was deployed. During the cautionary period Ferrari responded to the Red Bull threat and decided to pit Vettel for new mediums. The German rejoined in fourth place between the two Red Bulls as Bottas moved into P2 ahead of Verstappen.

The Dutch driver hit trouble after the VSC withdrew, however. He clipped the back of Lance Stroll’s Williams as he attacked the backmarker and damaged his front wing. That might have given Vettel hope but with Verstappen told that his wing was “structurally OK” despite end-plate damage, the gap widened, with Verstappen stretching his advantage over Vettel to 2.1s by lap 49.

The pair repeatedly traded personal bests over the following laps but Vettel could find no way to close in on Verstappen and Ferrari were left to rue ceding track position to Mercedes and Red Bull.

At the front, Hamilton was untouchable, powering to his 64th career win with more than 18 seconds in hand over his second-placed team-mate. Despite Vettel’s attentions, Verstappen was faultless over the final laps and claimed Red Bull Racing’s 150th podium finish with 0.7s seconds in hand over the sole remaining Ferrari.

Ricciardo added 10 points to Red Bull’s haul with fifth place, while Kevin Magnussen finished sixth for Haas ahead of Renault’s Carlos Sainz. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso took his fifth points finish of the season with eighth place ahead of Force India’s Sergio Pérez. Tenth place went to Sauber’s Charles Leclerc who scored points for the second race in a row.

[MIKA27]

WOLFF: IT FEELS LIKE WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS

By dominating the Spanish Grand Prix, from qualifying through to the race on Sunday, Mercedes have reestablished themselves as the force to beat in this year’s Formula 1 World Championship, as they found the sweet spot with both cars on their way to their first one-two of the season so far.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas dominated qualifying on Saturday and a day earlier they were unstoppable around Circuit de Catalunya, race winner Hamilton hardly ever troubled and crossing the line with a 20 seconds margin over his teammate in second.

Speaking after the race in Barcelona, team chief Toto Wolff was happy with the result on the day but wary of the forthcoming race in Monte Carlo, he said, “It wasn’t as comfortable as it looked because the race was good, Friday and Saturday were more difficult, and on Valtteri we were taking the tyres pretty far.”

“We had pick up and a flatspot which caused vibrations which looked a bit grim. But Lewis at the front was really outstanding.”

“We could see track position was so crucial. When Lewis was coming behind Max, he had the newer tyre but it’s just so difficult to overtake here.”

“Sebastian’s front left was really bad, they needed to pit [the first time] and we were a bit worried that structurally we could have a failure so we decided to pit Lewis as well. In hindsight, we’d have rather stayed out but a structural failure ruins your race.”

“I’m always on the worrying side. We’ve been very good in winter testing here and when we went to Australia everyone said it would be an easy Mercedes win and then we had difficult races.”

“I think we were very good today but we need to stay calm and humble. Monaco could be a very different story. It is a track we have suffered a lot at in the past.”

“It feels like we are back in business. But let’s wait for Monaco as it’s a different ball game,” added Wolff whose team now leads the championship standings after five rounds.

[MIKA27]

VETTEL: IT WAS NOT AN OPTION TO STAY OUT

Sebastian Vettel was the only one of the top eight drivers to make two stops for tyres during the  sparking speculation that Ferrari erred in their tactics which in the end may have denied their star driver a spot on the podium.

But when speaking to reporters after the race, Vettel was adamant that this was not the case and insisted his team made the right call, “It was not an option to stay out, it obviously looks wrong but, from the inside, it was the right thing to do.”

Thereafter Vettel, on fresher tyres, set off in pursuit of third-placed Max Verstappen in the Red Bull and initially made some inroads. But the young Dutchman driver upped the pace for the last few laps, Vettel closed the gap to seven-tenths of a second as they crossed the line – he simply ran out of laps.

Vettel added, “Overall we were quicker as the laps went on we just didn’t have enough pace. At the end we were not in a good place with the tyres even though mine were fresher.”

“Overall it has been a decent weekend, we just need to understand what to do with these tyres,” added the Ferrari driver who now trails race winner Lewis Hamilton in the championship standings by 17 points after five rounds.

[MIKA27]

Fernando Alonso hails fifth consecutive points finish this season

Fernando Alonso continued his streak of points scoring finishes this season as he finished eighth at the Spanish Grand Prix – his home race.

Alonso is one of just three drivers to have scored in every race of the 2018 season so far, with championship leaders Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel the other two.

Speaking after the race, Alonso says he thought points would have been "impossible" after he dropped down the order at the start of the race when he had to run wide to avoid the spinning Romain Grosjean.

"We lost positions on the first lap with the incident at Turn 2, so we found ourselves in a very difficult position in lap two and then I felt it was impossible to get the points today.

"But luckily we had a good race, we keep scoring points, five consecutive races in the points. That’s what we wanted today and I am happy right now."

The Spaniard is now 'best of the rest' in the standings in seventh and is hopeful of remaining there with McLaren's latest upgrades closing the gap to rivals Renault and Haas.

"We knew that the upgrades would put us in a better position in the midfield pack," he said. "I think we caught up a little bit with Renault and Haas as well but the top three teams keep developing the car at the same rate that we do and keep that gap unfortunately.

"We did a good step here. We were 0.8s behind Renault in Baku, 0.9s behind them in China and here we were the same in qualifying and the race. We did a step forward but we know its going to be a big battle until the end and its important to score points.

"We still lack some straight line speed to be able to overtake so it’s something that we are working on. We know our weakness on the car and hopefully we will find some solutions soon."

[MIKA27]

Romain Grosjean hit with Monaco grid penalty for first lap spin

The Spanish Grand Prix stewards have handed Romain Grosjean a three-place grid penalty for the next race on the calendar in Monaco, plus two penalty points following his first-lap spin that triggered a multi-car crash.

Grosjean was behind his Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen as they entered Turn 3 on the opening lap, but took evasive action when Magnussen had a wobble.

That caused the Frenchman to spin into the path of oncoming cars; in the hope of getting out of their way, Grosjean applied the accelerator, causing a huge cloud of tyre smoke, making it nearly impossible for those behind to avoid him.

Renault's Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly ended up colliding with the Haas with all three retiring on the spot.

Although Grosjean believed his decision to accelerate and cross the circuit was the best course of action, the stewards disagreed and therefore chose to apply the aforementioned penalties.

"The Stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from the driver of car 8, Romain Grosjean and the team representative," read a statement.

"Car 8 [Grosjean] was following Car 20 [Magnussen] at the exit of Turn 2 when Car 20 had a momentary loss of control. Car 8 avoided Car 20 which caused him to loose control of the car to the left of the track at the entry to Turn 3.

"The driver explained to the Stewards that he felt that his momentum was going to carry him to the center of the track, and therefore made the decision to apply power in an attempt to cross to the right side of the track and get out of the way of the cars behind. However, while crossing he moved into the line of Cars 27 [Hulkenberg] and Car 10 [Gasly], and all three cars were involved in a collision that took them out of the race.

"The driver stated to the Stewards that he made the decision to cross the track, trying to avoid the other cars and that he felt this was his best option. The Stewards found that while it is speculation as to where the driver’s car would have ended up had he chosen other alternatives, it is certain that while crossing the track in front of the following pack of cars, which he chose to do, that a collision occurred. Further, in reviewing the video, the Stewards found that the car was following the line on the left side of the track and was almost fully off the track, when he made the decision to cross it.

"The Stewards therefore chose to penalise the driver."

MIKA: HAAS need to remove this guy from the team. Way too many crazy moves, shunts, massive dangers to drivers and himself. What I dislike most are his excuses, always "Something" or "someone elses" fault.

[MIKA27]

Romain Grosjean 'has some homework to do' - Nico Hulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg has hit out at fellow Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean following a first lap collision which took three cars out of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Grosjean moved up to eighth to find himself behind Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen as they entered Turn 4 on the opening lap. Tucked into the slipstream of Magnussen, Grosjean lost grip and span into the chasing pack.

However the Frenchman kept his foot on the accelerator which caused a cloud of tyre smoke, making it nearly impossible for those behind to avoid him, with Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly colliding with the stricken Haas.

Renault's Hulkenberg hit out at Grosjean, saying the Frenchman "likes spinning", a comment likely relating to his Baku incident when he span whilst behind the Safety Car, adding that Grosjean "has some homework to do".

"I just got crashed into," the German told the BBC. "Obviously we saw that Romain spun and he came back into the track. I couldn’t go anywhere, couldn’t avoid him unfortunately and he took the back end of my car off and that’s the end of my afternoon.

"He doesn’t look great in that particular scenario. But generally he likes spinning a lot during the weekend but lap one is not a good time to do it with all the cars around.

"I think he’s got to look at it and he’s got some homework to do for himself."

[MIKA27]

FIA bans Ferrari’s halo winglets from Monaco onwards

The FIA has moved to ban Ferrari’s mirror winglets (see yellow arrow above) following the introduction of its new halo-mounted mirrors during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

The FIA gave teams the option of mounting their mirrors on the halo instead of the chassis in an attempt to improve visibility. Ferrari were the only team to take advantage of that, but it seems they have taken it a step further which hasn’t gone down well with the governing body.

Ferrari has reportedly been told the small winglets which sit above the mirrors must be removed for the next race in Monaco as they are an aerodynamic device, despite Ferrari’s claims that they are purely structural to limit mirror vibration, as the winglet and mirror are connected by a small support.

The FIA hasn’t accepted this argument. It’s unclear if Ferrari will remove the winglet and keep the halo-mounted mirrors for Monaco, or revert back to its chassis mounted option used in the first four races.

The FIA’s Head of Technical Matters Nikolas Tombazis commented on the option to mount them to the halo earlier in the week and admitted a team would only do so if it provided an aerodynamic benefit.

"Mirrors are nasty aerodynamic shapes and teams would ideally not want to have any mirrors at all, and clearly there's a regulation requiring mirrors to be in certain positions and have a certain amount of visibility.

"So I'm sure that when a team comes forward and says, 'We want to mount it here' it is because they feel it's going to be a bit better aerodynamically, we have no doubt about it. That includes halo mounting as well.

"Now it is our responsibility to make sure that the rules are specific enough, and we hope to also make improvements in the future, to make sure the mirrors achieve their real function, which is to be able to see at the back, and to stop them being used for aerodynamic purposes.

"But as long as there is a big device somewhere in the air teams will always worry about the aerodynamic effect. So it's our responsibility to regulate it properly."

[MIKA27]

IS HARTLEY ALREADY ON HIS WAY OUT?

A big talking point that has emerged from the Formula 1 paddock, in Barcelona this weekend, is that Brendon Hartley’s future in Formula 1 is increasingly fuzzy, much was expected of the Toro Rosso driver – a two times WEC world champion – but he has yet to show much spark at the pinnacle of the sport.

In 2008, Hartley was one of the hottest properties on the fringes of Formula 1. He had Red Bull backing and looked a shoe-in for a Toro Rosso seat in 2009, but a spate of bad form and his clear lack of readiness for the top flight, at the time, resulted in him being ditched by the energy drinks organisation.

The New Zealander resurrected his career thereafter, which in retrospect is a huge achievement in itself, and almost a decade later he was gifted a second chance with Toro Rosso, he deserved it – he had by now accumulated two WEC world titles and a Le Mans 24-Hours victory.

A  late last year to replace Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull junior team was his second chance at the big league. He was a welcome addition to the field. All around nice guy, articulate, modest and of good humour. But on track, he simply has not delivered.

Some blame his style of driving not being suited to a current generation Formula 1 car. Hartley’s Porsche LMP1 was an awesome piece of kit and WEC rules permit traction control. By his own admission, he was re-teaching himself to drive with his right foot again after years of point and stomp.

But on Saturday, during FP3 for the Spanish Grand Prix, his plight got worse after he  late in the session at the high-speed Turn 9, his car was ripped in half and was not repairable in time for qualifying.

Reflecting on the incident, Hartley said, “I had a crash in the first WEC round in 2016, but it wasn’t such a big impact in the end. Really such a big impact like that, it’s potentially the biggest one I’ve had to be honest. I don’t now the exact number [of Gs], but it’s probably one of the biggest crashes I’ve had.”

Meanwhile, it is being said that Toro Rosso are losing patience with the incident-prone New Zealander. Prior to the FP3 shunt, he has twice had near collisions with his teammate, perhaps no fault of his own, but coupled to driving errors the team have on their telemetry and no sign of real improvement – a replacement is being talked about.

Red Bull’s pipeline of junior drivers has run dry, however Mercedes protege and former Sauber driver Pascal Wehrlein has come up in paddock gossip as an alternative.

Would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when Mercedes and Red Bull sit down to thrash out that deal!

As much as I am a fan of Hartley and want him to excel in F1, he has yet to convince. Not many drivers of the modern era (eighties onwards) have made their way to Formula 1 via sportscar racing, is this the main reason why?

Whatever happens, the next few races will be telling for Hartley’s future in F1 as Wehrlein looms, but if Red Bull have real balls (or wings or whatever) they would give Sebastien Buemi or Jean-Eric Vergne a second chance.