Emirates Gran Premio De España 2019 witnessed a 5th consecutive Mercedes 1-2 finish and Hamilton’s 3rd consecutive win in Barcelona.
Mercedes are in their own league this year and are unstoppable. Hamilton had a great start which put him in the 1st place and Bottas right behind him. Everything worked out for Hamilton today, even the Safety Car played out in his favor. Lewis now leads the Drivers’ Championship with 112 points with fastest lap getting him an extra point.
As for Ferrari, nothing is going their way this season. Vettel was on for a great start but had a lock-up which forced him to stay at his original position. While it was a 4th place finish for Vettel, it was a 3rd consecutive 5th place finish for Leclerc. Swapping drivers, completely different tyre strategies, horrible pit stops compromised their race. Ferrari seems to have over-strategizied today which lost them a podium finish.
Red Bull was neck-to-neck with the Ferraris. Verstappen got a podium finish while Gasly finished 6th, right behind the Ferraris. Verstappen climbed up the 3rd spot pushing Vettel down to no. 4 in the Drivers’ Championship.
It was an incredible weekend for Haas. Magnussen and Grosjean finished 7th and 10th respectively. It was Grosjean in front of Kevin, but the two Haas’ fought it out with Kevin pushing Grosjean to go off wide, twice. He certainly struggled for that 10th place after making contact with Carlos Sainz.
McLaren haven’t had the pace they expected this season. Norris had an awful start and dropped 6 places. While he was fighting his way up, him coming in contact with Stroll ended up ruining the race for both the drivers and called for a safety car. Carlos Sainz was pumped up to race on a track he grew up racing on and finished 8th. While he was let off the hook for making contact with Grosjean, the incident between Norris and Stroll was to be investigated after the race.
Renault didn’t manage a points finish even after getting upgrades. Nico had to start from the pitlane for replacing his front wing. Ricciardo could only manage a 12th place with his teammate finishing right behind him.
Sports Pesa Racing Point lacked pace. Pérez finished 15th, between the 2 Alfa Romeos. Stroll couldn’t finish his race after his incident with Norris.
Kvyat earned points for Toro Rosso as he finished 9th. Albon, who was desperately trying to finish in points, could not manage to get past Grosjean and finished at 11.
Alfa Romeo were a hot mess today. Kimi’s terrible start caused him a 6 place drop. He went on the gravel and he couldn’t regain his place after that. Norris and Lance’s crash put both the Alfa Romeos in better positions. Räikkönen and Giovinazzi finished 14th and 16th, respectively.
Williams remain consistent and finish 17 and 18th with Russell once again being the better off the two.
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