Analysis of the Spanish Grand Prix, brought to you by Bahrain International Circuit
F1 – The talk ahead of the final race of this European triple-header was all about the impact of the new front wing regulations and whether the latest ruling from the FIA would have any kind of meaningful impact on the running order.
There had been pressure emanating from some of the teams that rival cars were gaining an advantage from using so-called “flexi-wings”. This was a way to make the front wings flexible to allow a car to maximise both its straight-line speed and its cornering ability.
There was no sense that any team had broken the rules, but the FIA had decided to tighten the regulation, resulting in something of a design change for those that had previously exploited this rule.
If McLaren’s rivals were hoping that the new regulations would change the pecking order, they were in for a disappointment when it came to qualifying. Norris and Piastri lit up the top of the timesheets, with the Australian taking pole ahead of his British teammate. Whilst the gap between the two was 0.2 seconds, it was a close-run tussle before a small error on Norris’ final lap gave Piastri the advantage.
It was McLaren’s first front row lockout in Spain since 1998. Worryingly for the rest, was the fact that McLaren achieved the biggest gap to pole seen so far this season. It never looked in doubt. That meant that Verstappen had to settle for third, with Russell joining him on the second row.
Hamilton was buoyed by a fifth place start and was aiming for his first podium of the season, with the Mercedes of Antonelli in sixth and Leclerc and Gasly completing the top eight.
All was not lost, however, for the teams chasing McLaren, as this is certainly not a race which is won or lost in Saturday qualifying. Further, the long stretch into turn one offers a real chance for those on the second row and behind to get a decent tow before the first corner and fight for the lead.
Then there is the small matter of the two McLaren’s alongside each other at the start. McLaren were keen to remind of the fact that the pair were free to go racing, whilst others pointed out the famous coming together between Hamilton and Rosberg in their Mercedes days back in 2016 in Barcelona, which put them both out on the first lap.
As it turned out, Piastri got off to the perfect start, whilst Verstappen took Norris round turn one making the most of the slip stream. Hamilton had a good start into fourth, followed by Leclerc, whilst Russell slipped back to fifth. As the race settled down, Norris managed a fairly easy overtake on Verstappen on lap 13 as the Dutchman’s tyres were struggling. By the next lap, Verstappen stopped for fresh rubber, much earlier than the rest of the frontrunners, with Leclerc stopping on lap 21 and the two McLarens on the subsequent two laps.
Whilst that early stop gave Verstappen a brief lead, it was clear he was aiming for a three-stop strategy, compared to two for many others. That became obvious after his second stop on lap 30, whilst the message from McLaren was their confidence in a two-stop strategy.
By the time that all the regular pit stops had happened by lap 49, Piastri had a fairly comfortable lead of 3.4 seconds from Norris but with Verstappen just one second behind in third. Leclerc was a further 10 seconds further back in fourth, then Russell and Hamilton.
The race looked to be drifting to that result, however a safety car appeared on lap 55, as Antonelli went off after an engine failure. It tightened up the pack and also allowed the leaders the chance for a quick free additional pitstop. This left a six-lap dash to the end with Verstappen immediately under pressure as his only tyre change available was onto the slower hard compound.
Leclerc made the most of that and completed the overtake into third. Upfront, it was no sweat for McLaren who sped off into the distance to complete a dominant first and second place, with Piastri earning his fifth win of the season.
There was drama further back towards the end as Verstappen was asked by his team to let Russell through after going off track and gaining an advantage. Verstappen didn’t agree and they both came together before Russell was eventually let through. The Stewards didn’t take kindly to the move and gave Verstappen a 10-second penalty, demoting him to tenth. This promoted Russell to fourth and Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber a remarkable fifth, their best result since 2015.
Lewis Hamilton finished sixth and looked to be struggling with his tyres towards the end and he was followed by Hadjar, Gasly and Alonso, who all were promoted ahead of Verstappen in tenth.
But the story of the weekend was yet again all about the dominance of McLaren. They are now a remarkable 197 points in the lead of the Constructors’ championship, with Piastri leading Norris by 10 points in the race for the drivers’ title. Verstappen’s penalty means he is now 41 points adrift of Norris.
F1 takes a break for two weeks, before heading to Canada for race day in Montreal on 15 June.
* Laurence Jones is senior manager, Marketing and Communications, Bahrain International Circuit
l.jones@bic.com.bh
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