So hats off to Nico Rosberg, who drove a superb race under plenty of pressure. Had he not won today, his title chances would have been distant at best. As it is, his win from pole, Hamilton’s fightback to claim second and Sebastien Vettel coming home 25 seconds behind either of them tells us something – Rosberg is still a contender, and probably the only real threat to Hamilton’s title defence.
The Briton leads the driver’s championship by 20 points on 111, with Rosberg on 91 and Vettel on 80. Next up, in two weeks’ time? It’s only the Monaco Grand Prix. Thanks for joining me. Bye!
Spanish Grand Prix result
Here’s today’s full top ten:
1 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari
4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams
5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Williams
7 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull
8 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus
9 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Toro Rosso*
10 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Red Bull*
The stewards are looking into that Sainz/Kvyat incident on the final lap. It seems likely they will change places, with Sainz running across a corner in order to hold his position.
NICO ROSBERG WINS THE SPANISH GRAND PRIX!
Rosberg has finished every race where he started it, and today is no different. He leads from the front to get his first win of the season, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in third.
Lap 65: Bottas clips a corner as he enters what must feel like the hundredth lap with Raikkonen right behind him. He’s still fourth – and behind those two, there’s contact between Sainz and Kvyat! Sainz holds position after running wide, and both are able to continue.
Lap 64: Two laps until the sweet, sweet sight of the chequered flag for Rosberg. He leads Hamilton by 12 seconds or so. Sebastian Vettel, who looked primed to go after the win after a strong start, is now 40 seconds behind the race leader.
Lap 63: Looks like Carlos Sainz will win the Toro Rosso battle – on fresher tyres, the Spaniard leaves Verstappen for dust on that long opening straight. Raikkonen is still battling behind Bottas, but the Ice Man is getting a taste of his own medicine – Bottas has been faultless in keeping him at bay.
Lap 61: Raikkonen may have missed his chance, with his tyres suffering a touch, but he continues to go after Bottas. At the front of the field, Rosberg leads Hamilton by 13 seconds – the German is going to get his first win of the season, barring a disaster.
Lap 60: Raikkonen is held by Bottas at the start of the sixtieth lap. Six laps to go, and that’s the only real excitement in the top ten, which looks like this: Rosberg, Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas, Raikkonen, Massa, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Kvyat, Verstappen.
Lap 58: Hamilton shaves another second off Rosberg’s lead – it’s now 15 seconds, but he’s running out of laps. Raikkonen is closing in on Bottas, waiting for a moment to use DRS – third and fourth for Ferrari wouldn’t have been the dream scenario, but it would be something.
Lap 57: Interesting chat between Hamilton and his team there – Mercedes tell him it’s best to consolidate second place, but Hamilton wants to know if it’s possible to catch Rosberg. You sense he and the team might have different views on that – but he’s told the gap’s too big. Bottas and Raikkonen still duking it out manfully for that fourth spot.
Lap 56: Both Vettel and Raikkonen are getting hot and bothered, with the latter using some choice words over the radio. They’re both unhappy with the Marussias at the back of the field, with Vettel barking “blue flag” repeatedly. Hamilton, who has dealt with the traffic expertly, continues to hare hopefully after the distant Rosberg.
Lap 54: Hamilton sets a new fastest lap, and is on fresh medium tyres. He’s 19 seconds behind – how close can he get to Rosberg? Incidentally, everyone outside the top six has been lapped – that’s created the traffic which Vettel was whinging about.
Lap 52: Vettel has a grump on, complaining over the team radio that traffic has held him up repeatedly. We’ve all been there. There’s some hot Finn on Finn action between Bottas and Raikkonen, both chasing fourth place – otherwise, it’s all calm among the leading pack.
Lap 51: Third stop imminent for Hamilton – and here he comes now, with a straightforward stop, and he exits the pit way, way ahead of Vettel. It looks like another Mercedes one-two – and Vettel will be mighty frustrated, given the start he made.
Lap 50: The half-century is up, and the top ten is as follows: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Bottas, Raikkonen, Massa, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Kvyat, Verstappen. Hamilton is still due an extra stop, and his focus is on staying ahead of Vettel, rather than challenging Rosberg.
Lap 47: Pastor Maldonado’s race is over – he’s told to retire, in all likelihood because a bit of his car has been missing for several laps. At least this website won’t need updating today.
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Lap 46: Rosberg pits, and comes out a couple of seconds behind Hamilton – but the British driver needs another stop, so it remains advantage Rosberg. In fact, the team radio tell Rosberg that Hamilton’s aim is beating Vettel into second. He’ll like that.
Lap 44: Fresh from scaring the life out of his pit team, Grosjean is back out, and overtakes Kvyat to move up to ninth. Rosberg still out in front, but he’ll be making his second stop shortly, and that will bring him closer to Hamilton.
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Lap 42: Grosjean goes in to pit, and has a similar, though less dramatic, problem to Alonso – nobody is badly hurt, but one of the Lotus crew is pictured applying ice to a sensitive area. We wish him well.
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Lap 41: Vettel steams through another lightning pit stop, and gets out ahead of team-mate Raikkonen, but he’s fourth. Hamilton returns to where he started – he’s in second, and moving faster than leader Rosberg.
Lap 40: Hamilton is motoring now, and glides past Bottas into the first corner to reclaim his place in the top three – and his pace means Vettel won’t be far away. The top ten: Rosberg, Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas,Raikkonen, Massa, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Sainz, Verstappen.
Lap 38: Rosberg had only led for ten laps in all of 2015 – he’s added 37 so far, and continues to race into the distance – now leading by 12 seconds. Hamilton is closing on Bottas, as the Williams man’s tyres start to suffer.
Lap 36: Only Raikkonen, of the current top six, is angling for a two-stop race – which means Vettel and Bottas will need to come in twice more. That fastest lap from Hamilton – 1:29.910, no less – has heads a-scratching in the Ferrari paddock though.
Lap 35: A fastest lap for Hamilton, as Plan B works to perfection. He’s now within a pit stop of Vettel, who has only stopped once. Button is told Alonso’s retirement doesn’t affect his car – a message that would make me, for one, think that it probably does.
Lap 34: Interesting battle here, with Hamilton and Raikkonen, both on hard tyres, battling for fourth. I say interesting – Hamilton jets past the Finn at the first opportunity, and will now go after Bottas to return to the podium positions.
Lap 33: Halfway, and Hamilton is in for his second stop, switching to hard compound tyres. He returns to the race behind Kimi Raikkonen, and will also need to re-lap the ailing Jenson Button.
Lap 31: Rosberg laps Sergio Perez in 14th, and maintains a big lead over Vettel – and an 11-second gap over Hamilton. He will be enjoying himself out there. Only one retirement so far – McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.
Lap 30: The top ten after thirty laps: Rosberg, Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas, Raikkonen, Massa, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Kvyat, Verstappen.
With Rosberg moving much faster than Vettel, and now opening an eight-second lead, the key battle remains between Vettel and Hamilton, separated by 1.4 seconds. The Toro Rosso drivers, who haven’t been able to hold their starting position, are in an almighty scrap for tenth.
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Lap 29: Rosberg is seven seconds up on Vettel now, with his team plotting to get him home without so much as seeing the German in his mirror. Button has pitted again after reporting problems; that lick of paint doesn’t seem to have fixed McLaren’s many, many problems.
Lap 28: Drama in the pit lane! Fernando Alonso, who had been struggling to fend off Ericsson way down the field, doesn’t stop in time, scooting through his scattering team. It’s brake failure, and Alonso has to retire. Desperate shame, but at least nobody in the pit lane was hurt.
Lap 26: Button and Maldonado have had their problems today, and they find themselves way down the field. Button, on his hundredth start for McLaren, is having problems with his throttle that he describes as ‘not normal’. Maldonado, meanwhile, is missing a chunk of his car:
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Lap 24: We’re around halfway between most drivers’ first and second stops, and there’s a serene quality to these middle laps, with no real movement in the field. Rosberg, six seconds clear of Vettel, is starting to slow down a touch, but Hamilton isn’t moving any faster.
Lap 22: Daniil Kvyat shows Max Verstappen who’s boss, the Red Bull ducking in front of the Toro Rosso, who moves across late, and almost collides with Kvyat. Close call, there. Kimi Raikkonen, on the harder tyres along with Verstappen and Sainz, is matching his team-mate’s pace, and is a definite danger to the top four above him.
Lap 21: Smart stuff from Vettel, who goes onto the defensive into the straights, knowing Hamilton’s overtaking chances are limited anywhere else on the track. Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean is getting an earful off his team radio. He’s having gearbox problems, and has to lift off the throttle, or ‘you will blow the car up’. I think that’s clear enough.
Lap 20: Hamilton is again breathing down Vettel’s neck, and he has a glimmer of a chance to overtake on the opening straight, but Vettel held him off. With DRS, not to mention a better car, it seems a matter of time at the moment.
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Lap 19: So, the current podium dwellers have all pitted, and switched to a shiny new set of medium compound tyres. Rosberg has a six-second buffer over Vettel, with Hamilton now under a second behind the Ferrari man.
Lap 18: Terse words exchanged between Hamilton and the Mercedes team. They tell him to up the pace and reel Vettel back in, he responds with a curt reminder that it’s not possible. Then tells them to stop talking to him during corners. Spiky.
Here’s the current top ten: Rosberg, Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas, Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso, Ericsson, Perez, Ricciardo.
Lap 16: Vettel’s pit stop is 2.3 seconds – seriously, that’s textbook. Race leader Rosberg also makes a stop, making stopless Kimi Raikkonen the provisional leader. Pastor Maldonado is having problems with the back of his car, and a pit stop doesn’t seem to have fixed it...
Lap 14: Hamilton is in, but it’s a shoddy pit stop, and Hamilton is pipped out of the pits by Maldonado! He’s down to seventh now, although not for especially long – five corners in fact, before he manoeuvres around the Venezuelan.
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Lap 13: Not content with Plan B, Williams have told Bottas to go to Plan C. We’re not sure what that is – it might just be Plan A again, which is a two-stop strategy. Hamilton, meanwhile, is closing in on Vettel, although Mercedes are also keeping an eye on the gap to Maldonado, to try and sneak in a pit without losing the leading pack.
Lap 12: We’ve got a pitter! Nico Hulkenberg, who hasn’t had a lot of fun out there so far, is into the pits. Don’t be too surprised to see some of the big hitters do likewise in the coming laps, including Hamilton, who continues to hare gamely after Vettel.
Lap 10: Hamilton is lapping faster than Vettel, and is around 1.2 seconds behind the German, but both are losing time on Rosberg, who has clear track ahead of him. A battle is developing behind the aforementioned front seven, with Verstappen, Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean separated by a couple of seconds. Interesting battle between the Red Bulls and their theoretical back-ups, Toro Rosso, today.
Lap 9: Plan B for Hamilton to get at Vettel is to take three stops; that’s going to be the champion’s immediate focus, so Rosberg will be feeling mighty fine way out in front. He has a six second lead over Vettel now. More strong moves from Maldonado, who zips by Verstappen to join the top seven.
Lap 8: Hamilton tells the team radio it’s ‘impossible’ to catch Vettel, and he’s been consistently slower than race leader Rosberg. There’s worse news for poor Jenson Button, who is having serious problems with understeer. Maybe he should have stuck with the old-timey car.
Lap 6: So your top ten right now is Rosberg, Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas, Raikkonen, Massa, Verstappen, Maldonado, Ricciardo, Sainz. Strong starts for Vettel, Raikkonen and Massa, flexing their muscles like the big-time Charlies they are.
Lap 5: Pastor Maldonado has also capitalised on a rocky start for Sainz, overtaking the home driver to move into the points. Rosberg with a three-second lead over Vettel after five laps.
Lap 4: Rosberg sets the fastest lap on his third circuit, while Kimi Raikkonen has got off to a flyer, getting the better of the two Toro Rossos to move up to fifth. Less good news for Jenson Button, who finds himself 18th after a sluggish start.
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Lap 2: At the risk of stating the obvious, that wasn’t what Lewis Hamilton needed. He would have hoped to have edged Rosberg out; now he’s stuck behind Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton was complaining of understeer in his practice lap, which may have a lot to do with it.
Go, go, go
They’re off! Everyone gets around a hellish first couple of corners after that straight, but Lewis Hamilton is off the pace – not only does Rosberg hold him off, but Vettel overtakes him! Valtteri Bottas is inches from doing the same, but Hamilton just holds his line into the first corner. So it’s Rosberg first, Vettel second, Hamilton third.
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They’re on the warm-up lap now, with the race moments away. Every driver is starting on medium compound tyres. The track temperature is currently 46 degrees. Well, it is Spain.
Ten minutes until race time. Some awkward chat going on at the starting line at the moment. Jenson Button says “I can’t be disappointed yet”. Damon Hill reckons it’s more nerve-wracking watching on than being in a car. I find that hard to believe, but he would know.
Now, the start isn’t ever exactly an irrelevance in F1, but it’s of the utmost importance today. It’s a long, straight drag to the first corner from the starting line – and with overtaking opportunities limited, whoever gets there first will be a big favourite. My money’s on Rosberg... or Hamilton.
The grid
A reminder that Rosberg starts on pole, alongside Lewis Hamilton on the front row, and with an intriguing top six of Vettel, Bottas, Sainz and Verstappen.
1 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari
4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams
5 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Toro Rosso
6 Max Verstappen (Ned) Toro Rosso
7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari
8 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Red Bull
9 Felipe Massa (Bra) Williams
10 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull
11 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus
12 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Lotus
13 Fernando Alonso (Sp) McLaren
14 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren
15 Felipe Nasr (Bra) Sauber
16 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber
17 Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Force India
18 Sergio Pérez (Mex)Force India
19 Will Stevens (GB) Manor
20 Roberto Merhi (Sp) Manor 1:32.038
Here’s Jenson Button in the new, souped-up McLaren an old-timey car for the driver’s parade, which took place earlier on. A good effort, but nobody could compete with the retro wheels of Valtteri Bottas, who starts fourth on the grid.
Preamble
Common sense dictates that if you simply must swing at the king, you had better not miss. A combination of last season’s narrow title win and a blistering start to the season have put Lewis Hamilton firmly on the throne – but either side of his coronation, team-mate Nico Rosberg has thrown his fair share of duff punches.
After the shunt in Spa that turned the title race (and perhaps his team) against him, Nico came out swinging again in China – by complaining that Hamilton wasn’t hitting him hard enough. Rosberg has fallen from title contender to the man drawing embarrassed glances in the paddock – so this weekend, the German has wisely let his driving do the talking.
He starts on pole today after pipping Hamilton in qualifying – the first time he has done so in 2015, after 11 poles last season. It seems Rosberg is lining up another left hook – but with Hamilton nearly 30 points clear, and with less of a psychological edge over the German than a cliff-face, the old adage applies. If Hamilton can beat Rosberg today, the driver who appears allergic to canvas may finally be out for the count.
There’s more – the improving Sebastian Vettel is lurking in third, Spain’s Carlos Sainz and young buck Max Verstappen start in the top six, and Fernando Alonso comes home with a snazzy new car, and not much else – he starts 13th today in his new McLaren. The race gets underway at 1pm sharp.
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