The Dutch driver is still with his streak. A race that he ends, race that he wins. He has now four victories on this first six races of the season. Leclerc had to leave the race due to a problem on the Ferrari´s motor. Also, the race had a lot of surprises and emotions, for the fans and drivers.
Some years later, was celebrated again a Grand Prix of Formula 1 on Spain. This is always special for some drivers like Carlos Sainz or Fernando Alonso. But, despite of that, the reception of Spanish fans to all the drivers was amazing. The three days were with a lot of people from the start to the end of the days. The recorded attendance data of the weekend has been: Friday: 54,134; Saturday: 95,163 ;Sunday: 121,667. Also, on the trophy delivery after the race, there was runway invasion from all the crown.
The race started on a really standard way. There were no accidents on the first lap of the race and a clean start from the beginning. However, on the curve 4, Magnussen and Hamilton had an accident with a little touch between both drivers. The Dane was out from the circuit and the six times world champion had to enter to boxes due to a puncture. So the English pilot had a race of 65 from the 19th position, a big duel to him and his team.
Then, the Spanish driver that ran at home had a little spin on the lap 7. Fortunately, he returned to the circuit on the P11, with 60 laps left to end. Probably, without this mistake, he could win his first race this season.
Some laps later, the battle starring Max Verstappen and George Russell was really beautiful. The English pilot was ahead of the current world champion. Also, the car of Max had some problems with the DRS. When he activated, most of the time it closed.
The problem with the DRS caused a lot of frustration to Max. He was really angry on the radio with his team. Despite of this problem, Redbull team had other problem during the race. `Checo´ Perez complained a lot because he was ready to fight with Russell the P1 thanks to a younger tyres. However, Redbull did not let him and he said on the post-race radio: “We have to talk later“.
Another surprise on this GP was the abandonment of Charles Leclerc. He was P1 from the start of the race and had an advantage of 20 seconds more less. However, on the lap 27 the Ferrari´s motor failed.
The driver of the day was Lewis Hamilton. He reached a P5 with a really bad start from P19. Fernando Alonso also completed a really good performance. The Spanish driver came out from the P20 to P9.
The current ranking after this race is the same of the last week except the change of leader of the world championship. Max Verstappen has now 6 points of advantage to Charles Leclerc. Redbull Racing also advances to Ferrari on the 2022 team standings.
Jorge Barbero