Spanish Grand Prix Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Spanish Grand Prix proved a more straightforward affair than any other race so far this season, as Lewis Hamilton dominated the field from lights to flag, but behind him there was plenty of drama and action for fans to savor. A opening lap spin by Romain Grosjean in the Haas collected Nico Hulkenberg and Brendon Hartley and put them all out on the spot. Power unit problems forced Kimi Raikkonen to retire early. In the other Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel made a late pit stop fromRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Max Verstappen enjoyed a solid day at the office after successfully overcoming front wing damage to claim the final spot on the podium for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. The third-place result at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is easily his best performance of the 2018 Formula 1 season, which saw the 20-year-old Dutchman retire twice in the opening four races and only muster a previous best of fifth (Chinese Grand Prix). “I always feel quite good on this track and today has been a nice turning point afterRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton powered to a dominant Spanish Grand Prix win as Mercedes scored its first 1-2 finish of the season, with Valtteri Bottas finishing ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel dropped from second place to fourth after a mid-race pit stop. 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 whenRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton powered to top spot in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, taking his first pole position since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen. In Q1, after the early pace was set by Kimi Räikkönen, Vettel then raised the bar considerably with a lap of 1:17.031 that put him four tenths of a second ahead of the Finn, with Hamilton third. Red Bulls drivers then disrupted things with Daniel Ricciardo jumping ahead of HamiltonRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace in Barcelona, topping the timesheet in final practice ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, as Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley brought he session to an early end with a heavy crash. With only a few minutes remaining in the session, Hartley got on the dirt beyond the kerb on the entry to the fast Turn 9 and his Toro Rosso immediately swapped end, sending him backwards across the gravel trap and hard into the barriers. While Hartley reportedRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Spanish Grand Prix marks Formula 1’s return to Europe after the early season fly away races. It also marks the first big round of updates the teams implement for their new cars. For many, it is when the season truly begins as Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is the benchmark for the teams to find their true place in the pecking order and see if they have moved ahead or fallen behind their rivals since they last visited Barcelona for pre-season testing. Ferrari has clearly had theRead More

By FIA After being beaten to top spot in first practice by over eight tenths of a second by team-mate Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton powered forward in the afternoon session to claim P1, a tenth of a second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. The Red Bull Racing driver bounced back from a first-session crash to edge team-mate Max Verstappen by 0.141s. Hamilton’s best lap, in a time of 1:18.259, came on the soft compound Pirelli tyres and was set early in the session. When the Briton later went for aRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Robert Kubica made his official return to a Formula 1 race weekend for the first time since 2010, ending 19th quickest in Friday morning practice ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. The outing at was less than ideal as Kubica was 3.362 seconds off the pace, but still managed to place ahead of Williams teammate Lance Stroll by 1.246 seconds at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Stroll also crashed with half an hour to go the session. Overall, the first of three scheduled opening practice sessions for 2018Read More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest in the opening practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix, finishing more than eight tenths of a second ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton and almost a second clear of third-placed Sebastian Vettel. The Mercedes drivers’ dominance of the session was established early with Bottas using soft tyres to push into the 1m18s bracket. At that point the were backed up by Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, but the Australian wouldn’t figure in the session for much longer. With grip at the premium onRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Williams reserve pilot Robert Kubica is slated to run a pair of afternoon sessions during preseason testing next week at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The workload will be split up between Lance Stroll, rookie Sergey Sirotkin and Kubica. The Grove-based outfit will have Stroll kickoff the program of the FW41 on Monday morning, followed by Sirotkin in the afternoon and Tuesday morning. For Kubica, his work behind the wheel will officially begin on Tuesday afternoon and conclude on Wednesday. Both Stroll and Sirotkin will finish up theRead More