The best race of Quata in two years, the victory of Hamilton and Ferrari without a podium: the results of the Spanish Grand Prix in the "Formula 1"

Free practice

The fifth stage of the world car racing championship in the Formula 1 car class started very traditionally. Mercedes and Ferrari immediately showed their superiority over all others and focused on full-time battle for the first four positions. In this case, the first place always got to the representatives of the German team. Valtteri Bottas was the best in the first two races, and Lewis Hamilton supported the initiative of his partner in the third. Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclaire desperately tried to catch up with their competitors, but their best result was only the second line.

If you missed FP1 ... # SpanishGP 🇪🇸 # F1pic.twitter.com / h5oJNXom2e

The pilots of eight other teams could only look in the back of the leaders and solve their local tasks. During the battle for the title of the first after the favorites, the representatives of Haas particularly succeeded. In the first two practices, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen did not fall below the eighth line, and in the third they settled down in fifth and sixth places, respectively.

This situation could not please the rider Red Bull Max Verstappen. Already during the first training session, the Dutchman faced technical problems, as a result of which he was forced to resort to replacing the power plant on his car. The reason for this was the leakage of engine oil.

As it became known later, a similar replacement was planned in advance, but had to go after the second, and not the first practice. This was stated by Toyuhare Taponabe, the head of Honda's autosport unit, a supplier of engines for the Austrian team.

With the new power plant, Verstappen showed the fifth time during the second training session, but in the third one again fell to seventh place. At the same time, his partner Pierre Gasley showed even more modest results, becoming first seventh and then 14th.

Upgrade time in Spain. Take a look at how FP2 shook out Spanish # SpanishGP 🇪🇸 # F1pic.twitter.com / 6WUvxtdqpJ

Unlike his former team-mate, Toro Rosso pilot Daniil Kvyat performed much more stable. In the first practice, the Russian took ninth place, and in the other two he avoided serious mistakes. The athlete lost exactly one position in each of the subsequent races, but was pleased with his performance.

“It was a productive day. We overcame many circles without any problems, we managed to collect useful information. I am optimistic, we will take a step forward, ”said Kvyat.

One of the main losers training sessions became the pilot Williams George Russell. At the end of the third practice, the athlete crashed his car and damaged the gearbox, as a result of which the mechanics had to be replaced. According to the rules of the FIA, for such manipulations athletes face a five-point penalty at the start of the race.

🚩RED FLAG 🚩

George Russell into the barriers at Turn 4 #SpanishGP 🇪🇸 # F1pic.twitter.com / vOQCI1SDvm

No luck and Lance Strolla. In the end of the first practice, the Racing Point driver lost control and drove into the bump stop. Fortunately for the Canadians, the car did not receive serious damage, which saved him from sanctions from the organizers.

Grassy stroll

💥😮

FP1 # SpanishGP # F1pic.twitter.com / qem4tPvI3m

Qualification

After a relative failure during the third workout, Bottas managed to make the necessary adjustments and won the pole position for the third time in a row. His partner Hamilton was again in the second position, but the gap between the two team-mates turned out to be enormous. Finn was significantly faster than the British, beating ahead by 0.634 seconds.

“A somewhat unlucky session for Lewis. He was unable to properly charge the battery, as he drove into the pits in the second segment ... But Valtteri is in good shape and deserves to be on the pole, ”commented the performance of his pilots, the head of the Mercedes autosport division Toto Wolf.

Valtteri Bottas in 2019

# SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/stMa5ESQdx

Vettel has traditionally become the third, and Verstappen re-entered the four, pushing Leclaire to the third line of the starting field. At the end of the session, Max admitted that Red Bull is able to resist Ferrari, but on equal terms to fight with Mercedes is not yet possible.

In Spain, Kvyat was not able to show his best result in qualifying this season, but he was again in the top ten. As in the first free practice, he showed the ninth result, ahead of such pilots as Daniel Riccardo, Kimi Raikonen, as well as his partner in Toro Rosso Alexander Albon. A native of Monaco was only 12th, giving Bottas more than two seconds.

“Very positive session. I managed to put it all together. In the second segment, I had an almost perfect circle. Today we reached the maximum, so I am very pleased. At the start of the year I had two difficult qualifications. Now we are proving that we have done our homework, ”said the Russian pilot.

It is noteworthy that Quyat’s success was noted by even the chief racing engineer of the stables, Guillaume Desotou. He said that the Russian managed to get around most of the direct competitors of Toro Rosso.

Later on sunday

Daniel Ricciardo qualified P10 but has a 3-place grid drop after his collision with Kvyat in Baku #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/Yy7jx5uX9w

The main losers qualifications traditionally have become riders Williams. Russell is located on the penultimate place, and closed the twenty Robert Kubica. After returning to Formula 1, the Pole still cannot show his usual results, and the car does not help him at all. At the moment, the British team is definitely the worst and has no points in the Cup of designers.

At the same time, management prefers to see the reasons for failures in the work of athletes. According to Le Journal de Montreal, already in the course of the season Kubica risks giving way to the main Williams rider Nicholas Latifi. Currently, a Canadian is a test pilot of a stable and in parallel is in favor of DAMS in Formula 2.

Race

Leadership Bottas lasted very long. Barely extinguished the lights of the traffic light, as he walked around Hamilton. Finn had only to protect his second place from Verstappen and Vettel who claimed him. His compatriot Kimi Raikkonen was also very unlucky at the start - the Alfa Romeo pilot flew out into the gravel and dropped to the last place, even missing Williams riders and Niko Hulkenberg who started from the pit lane.

In Quyata, the start of the race was encouraging. He retained the ninth position and even held behind Kevin Magnussen for some time, but he did not have time to use the DNS zone for overtaking.

The leading peloton obediently followed Hamilton, updated the best circles, when suddenly Vettel unexpectedly missed Charles Lecler. Newcomer Ferrari attacked an experienced partner for so long that he still gave up and dropped to fifth place. The German pilot complained about the condition of the tires and first opened a series of pit stops, leaving after him in tenth place. Kvyat also did not wait long for the call of mechanics and changed the tires quite early. Almost immediately, the Russian beautifully walked Raikkonen.

While in Ferrari were busy Vettel, the pace fell and Lecler. Only when his advantage over Verstappen, who also put on new tires, began to melt disastrously, Monegasque was called into the pits, but now he could not hope for a third position. The middle of the race was in the controversy between Vettel and Leclaire, in which the German pilot still emerged victorious. True, both of them now lost so much to Hamilton that the Briton could afford an extra pit stop if he hadn't kept pace with Verstappen.

BATTLE FOR P4: LAP 36/66

Leclerc is currently holding the team between the Ferrari team and the team. F1 # F1 # SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/csj3mwc3QO

At the same time there was a serious struggle for points between Hulkenberg, Magnussen and Kvyat. The German pilot, who was driving on used tires, did not resist them for a long time and rolled back to tenth place. Magnussen assumed that now it would be easy to go to the eighth position until the end of the race, but he managed to get around Quat. According to the degree of aggression, the Russian pilot was definitely the best in this race.

LAP 39/66

Kevin Magnussen to take P8 F1 # F1 # SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/uzMlNy6jhe

Alas, it was not possible to keep the conquered positions due to the sluggishness of the team. After leaving the safety car, both pilots turned down a pit stop, but in Toro Rosso they were carrying around with tire change and returned Quyat to the track later than Magnussen. A few laps Russian rested on the back of the Danes, as the pace car didn’t turn off for a long time - from the contact of Lando Norris with Lance Stroll, who caused the yellow flags, too much gravel poured out onto the track.

LAP 46/66

That collision at Turn 2 between Norris and Stroll

Both drivers are out of the #SpanishGP F1 # F1pic.twitter.com / VJLwE1CFnp

After the restart, Magnussen moved forward - he himself pushed his partner Romain Grosjean off the track. Quat did not support the pace of the Haas pilot and missed forward former team-mate Carlos Sainz. The Russian tried to counterattack, but did not succeed. He became the tenth, but with the prospect of catching up with Grosjean.

LAP 53/66

Was that a little kiss between the @ HaasF1Team boys? 🔍🔍 # F1 # SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/4tvx4tQ8MX

Meanwhile, the race entered its final stage. Hamilton continued to update his best result with each round and was preparing to celebrate his third win of the season. Bottas did not lag behind him too much, but he had neither a distance to attack, nor the same ideal piloting as a partner.

In the tail of the spectacle zone intrigue was more. Grosjean again failed, cut off the track in the same place, and damaged tires. Quat immediately took advantage of the hitch of the Frenchman and came in ninth place. He even had chances to catch up with Sainz, but he didn’t have enough time. As a result, the pilot of Toro Rosso retained his starting position and scored two points, repeating the best result in two years - for the last time Kvyat finished ninth right there, in Spain.

Hamilton won the 76th career victory. At the same time, for the first time in the last seven races, the Mercedes pilot showed the best lap in the race, earning him an extra point in the World Cup. The Briton again came out on top, beating Bottas by seven points. Max Verstappen rose to third place in the race, and in the general classification. The next race - the Monaco Grand Prix - will take place in two weeks, on May 26.

THUMBS UP: @LewisHamilton celebrates the 76th win of his F1 career championships standings 🏆 # F1 # SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/aEBO5qmumW