They had called the new start at Ferrari - this race, it should bring the turnaround in so far unilateral title duel with Mercedes. Ferrari wanted to attack, the engine was tinkered, the front and rear wings were changed again. Barcelona should be a symbol of how Ferrari can make this racing year exciting once again and turn things around.
In the end, the Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were back on the podium, and for Ferrari this weekend was even worse than the previous races. Red looks more and more black.
The first speak after just five races of the season that the title fight was already over. Barcelona is not in the end for the turnaround, Barcelona stands for the dominance of the Silver Arrows. The demonstration could hardly have been clearer.
Even in the qualifying, on which Ferrari had set such high hopes, the hierarchy was cemented. Bottas ahead of Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel behind them - for Barcelona, ranking in qualifying is even more important than elsewhere. The Circuit de Catalunya complicates the overtaking, actually it is only possible in the start and finish straight, to overtake the opponent.
Five doubles - that's new
All the more important is the start phase, the phase that called Vettel after the race as "shot in the oven". Although the German initially accelerated so much that it could look as if he could endanger at least Bottas. But at the end of the straights almost everything was over with a failed braking: Vettel had to line up in fourth place - the race had been practically over.
Enric Foncuberta / EPA-EFE / REX
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes boss Dieter Zetsche have a drink
That's how it has come four times this season. Hamilton in front of Bottas or Bottas in front of Hamilton - at least with two silver arrows on the ranks one and two. Five double successes in five races - that has never happened before. Nothing speaks for the fact that this series breaks.
"We're writing history right now," said Hamilton, "the greatest respect is due to the team and the people in the factory." The World Champion was able to analyze the race completely relaxed. He had clearly put his team-internal challenger Bottas in the barriers, he has again the lead in the World Cup standings, his long-term rival Vettel is already behind by a whopping 48 points. Nothing could cloud the mood of the defending champion.
Unkluge stable maneuvers at Ferrari
So it sounded rather defiant, as Vettel asserted: "If I had not had the brake plates, we could have kept up the pace." For it is not just technical defects that are currently inhibiting the course of the Reds. In Barcelona, in-house mistakes were added to the stable management - not the first time.
At first, the team was reluctant to let their faster team-mate Charles Leclerc pass Vettel. Later, when the German had fresh, better tires available, the procedure was repeated - just the reverse. Again, Ferrari hesitated to give the green light to Vettel this time - again the better car at that time lost valuable time.
The had previously left Vettel in the pit lane. The stop when changing tires was much slower than the competition - it fit into this messed-up weekend of the Scuderia, which missed the podium in the end, because Red Bull typhoon Max Verstappen took the third place.
"We wanted to be faster at last, that did not work out again", said Vettel the result of a race that was "a big step backwards" for Ferrari. In two weeks, the city circuit of Monte Carlo - the next chance for the turnaround. Maybe it's the last one.