First day
A year ago, before the Spanish Grand Prix, which was also the sixth stage in the calendar, the situation in the Formula 1 championship was much more intriguing than it is now. Although the Mercedes pilots were unconditionally in the lead, they were separated by only one point, and Valtteri Bottas was the first in the ranking, not Lewis Hamilton. Now the British pilot immediately won 30 points from the closest pursuer Max Verstappen, who was able to interrupt the winning streak of the German stable last week.
In Barcelona, the Mercedes drivers were determined to take a convincing revenge from the Dutchman. From the very first free sessions, it became clear that it would not be easy for everyone to oppose Hamilton and Bottas. Verstappen only had enough speed to lose a little less than a second.
At the same time, a tight fight for the third place emerged. Even Sebastian Vettel joined it, whose season in Ferrari can be called a failure. On the newly designed machine, he showed in the first session an almost identical time with Verstappen. True, in the second training session, he was no longer so fast and showed only the 12th result, and Daniel Riccardo, Romain Grosjean and Charles Leclair moved closer to Verstappen.
Second day
On Saturday, new faces tried to challenge Verstappen. His main pursuers were Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, who recovered from the coronavirus infection. Leclair and Pierre Gasly also made their claims to the second and third rows of the starting grid. The seventh place of the pilot of AlphaTauri was unexpected, especially against the background of weak performance of Daniil Kvyat, for whom the top ten was unattainable every time.
Hamilton and Bottas both competed with each other in all three free sessions and continued to do so in qualifying. The intense heat, which the organizers are trying to avoid, because of which the Spanish Grand Prix usually takes place in May, was not a hindrance to them. They squeezed the most out of the softest tires and could even allow themselves to rest sometimes while the rest of the pilots fought for the next round. The winner of the intra-team dispute eventually became Hamilton. He not only won 92nd pole position in his career, but also became the first pilot in history to hit the first row of the grid for the 150th time.
The most advantageous position for Mercedes went to Verstappen, as expected. Pilots Racing Point did not have two or three tenths of a second to impose a fight on him, but for Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll the simultaneous hitting the top five was still a success.
The most exciting moment of qualification was the fight for the last two places in the third session. Alexander Albona, Lando Norris and Sebastian Vettel were separated by just 0.005 seconds. The German driver Ferrari was superfluous in this company. Immediately behind him on the 12th line was Kvyat, who again lost to Gasly in qualifying. The Russian was lucky that he avoided a three-position penalty for blocking Kevin Magnussen in the first qualifying session, otherwise the fight for points could have been forgotten on an unsuitable Spanish track for overtaking.
Race
At the start of Sunday's race, Mercedes gave the only slack for the entire weekend. Bottas could not start powerfully and let Verstappen and Perez pass ahead, and was also barely able to repulse Stroll's attack. He was soon able to bypass the pink car, but the Dutchman managed to get ahead by almost two seconds during this time. He even beat Bottas more than he lost to Hamilton, until the race leader began fighting for the fastest lap.
LAP 1/66
A slow start by Bottas as he drops to P5, behind the two Racing Points
He does get back past Perez but is down in P4 from P2 # SpanishGP 🇪🇸 # F1pic.twitter.com / rV7jmuoV9i
Kvyat also had an unsuccessful start, but he won back two positions as quickly as he lost them. Due to the faster tires, the Russian even began to put pressure on Vettel, but did not leave for the position for the attack. In the end, he still had to slow down in order to save the tires until the pit stop.
Early on, Verstappen complained about tire wear, and after visiting the pits, he returned to third place between Mercedes and Racing Point. The synchronous response of the German stable did not allow to fix such an arrangement of the pilots in the peloton. Bottas again finished third at a respectful distance from Verstappen.
The race went on quietly until Leclerc had an engine problem. The Ferrari driver, who closed the top ten, suddenly turned around and stopped. He managed to start the car again and drive to the pits, but there was no longer any hope of continuing the race. Later it turned out that the motor could not withstand contact with the curb.
LAP 38/56: YELLOW FLAG
Charles Leclerc spins and then comes to a halt
He eventually restarts his engine but rejoins in P20 # SpanishGP 🇪🇸 # F1pic.twitter.com / vtvTl4o5Ru
After the second series of pit stops, the position in the first four has not changed, and Vettel was behind it. The Ferrari pilot was in no hurry to change tires again and intended to drive on old tires to the finish line, risking not finishing the race at all. It was too difficult for him to stay in fifth place, but any result in the top ten would still be a success for the Italian team. Gradually, Vettel was overtaken by Stroll and Sainz, but he did not concede the seventh position to Albon and eventually finished on it.
LAP 60/66
Ferrari 2020 v Ferrari 2021, as Vettel and Sainz battle for P6
And the McLaren driver - who replaces Vettel at Ferrari next year - eventually wins out # SpanishGP 🇪🇸 # F1pic.twitter.com / KbL7tWXrG4
Hamilton in the second half of the race in pursuit of the fastest lap began to collect laps. Not everyone complied with the stewards' requirement to let the leader of the race, and Perez was the first to receive a five-second penalty for ignoring the blue flags, which ultimately resulted in the loss of fourth place. For him, Kvyat received a similar punishment, which finally deprived him of his chances for points. After the pit stops, he climbed to 12th and in the end remained on it.
In the last laps, Bottas decided to spoil his partner's celebration of winning the "Grand Slam" and drove to the pit stop for new tires. The Finn was able to realize his insidious plan. He managed to set the fastest lap and earned himself an extra point. He himself finished third behind Verstappen, while Hamilton celebrated his 88th career win. Instead of "Grand Slam", the Mercedes pilot achieved another even more impressive achievement. He took Michael Schumacher's podium record for the 156th time in the top three.