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Hamilton dominates to take victory in Barcelona

Published on 13 May 2018 16:47
5
By: Fergal Walsh

Lewis Hamilton has dominated the Spanish Grand Prix, taking his second consecutive victory of the 2018 season. The Briton controlled the race from lights out to the chequered flag, and extends his lead over Sebastian Vettel in the championship fight.

Valtteri Bottas followed his teammate home in second place, making it a 1-2 finish for the Silver Arrows. The German manufacturer now takes the top spot in the constructor's table, as Ferrari suffered a non-finish through Kimi Raikkonen who was hit with engine issues.

Max Verstappen claimed his first podium finish of the year, despite driving an injured car. The Red Bull driver ran into the back of Lance Stroll at a virtual safety car restart, and managed to keep Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel behind in the closing stages.

Daniel Ricciardo drove a lonely race and came home in fifth place. He headed the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the Renault of Carlos Sainz, who crossed the line in sixth and seventh place respectively.

The other Haas and Renault cars of Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg retired on the opening lap of the race. Grosjean spun at Turn 3 and threw up a lot of smoke. Hulkenberg failed to avoid the sideways Haas and hit him, as did Pierre Gasly.

The safety car was deployed to clear up the mess that was laid down. The field settled down following the safety car, before the pit stop phase came into play. Vettel was the first of the front-runners to come in on lap 17, getting rid of his soft tyres for the harder medium compound.

Bottas pitted two laps later, but Vettel managed to stay ahead in second place. Hamilton stayed out until lap 25, before coming in for the white-walled medium tyre while Raikkonen reported a problem with his car, which would eventually lead to his retirement.

Vettel came in for his second pit-stop after a virtual safety car was called into action while Esteban Ocon's stricken Force India was taken away. Ferrari hoped he would rejoin in third, however a slow stop caused him to fall behind Verstappen, where he would stay until the end of the race.

Fernando Alonso kept up his record of finishing in the points in every race of the year so far, by crossing the line in eighth place. He battled Charles Leclerc for much of the race, who finished in tenth place after Sergio Perez got by for ninth in the final stages.

Fergal Walsh

F1Grand Prix Spain - Race

Circuit de Catalunya - 13 May 2018

Driver

Team

Time/Difference

Laps

Points
1

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1h35:29.972

66

25.0
2

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

+ 20.593

66

18.0
3

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

+ 26.873

66

15.0
4

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

+ 27.584

66

12.0
5

Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull Racing

+ 50.058

66

10.0
6

Kevin Magnussen

Haas F1

+ 1 lap

65

8.0
7

Carlos Sainz jr

Renault

+ 1 lap

65

6.0
8

Fernando Alonso

McLaren

+ 1 lap

65

4.0
9

Sergio Perez

Force India

+ 2 laps

64

2.0
10

Charles Leclerc

Sauber

+ 2 laps

64

1.0
11

Lance Stroll

Williams

+ 2 laps

64

0.0
12

Brendon Hartley

Toro Rosso

+ 2 laps

64

0.0
13

Marcus Ericsson

Sauber

+ 2 laps

64

0.0
14

Sergey Sirotkin

Williams

+ 3 laps

63

0.0

Did not finish
15

Stoffel Vandoorne

McLaren

0

0.0
16

Esteban Ocon

Force India

0

0.0
17

Kimi Räikkönen

Ferrari

0

0.0
18

Romain Grosjean

Haas F1

0

0.0
19

Pierre Gasly

Toro Rosso

0

0.0
20

Nico Hülkenberg

Renault

0

0.0

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804

Boring enough race... massive lap 1 crash! Hopefully a lot closer in Monaco

1
May 13 2018 - 17:55

F1 News Max Verstappen Fernando Alonso Valtteri Bottas Romain Grosjean Daniel Ricciardo Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Kimi Räikkönen Sergio Perez Kevin Magnussen Pierre Gasly Esteban Ocon Charles Leclerc Lance Stroll Renault Ferrari Force India

Replies (5)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Not exactly Baku 2.0, but it was okay I guess. Really disappointed by the amount of mechanical retirements. As for Grosjean: I can understand that its easy to panic and throttle in that situation, but the moment I saw him throttling I knew this would happen. Too bad he had to take Gasly and Hulk with him. But yeah, ok race.
- + 0
- May 13 2018 - 17:03
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  On a more positive note: really strong performance from Sauber. Goes to show what good drivers can do with a mediocre car, something Williams might wanna check out in between looking up pay drivers (and more importantly looking into their wallets).
  + 0
  
  May 13 2018 - 18:16
- Kean
  
  Posts: 692
  Agreed in regards to Leclerc, he was impressive. Ericsson, aside from a good show when he defended against Sainz, need to step up his game now that Leclerc is starting to come into his own. Stroll finished ahead of Ericsson.... I actually think Stroll did a really good job in the race, not so much during friday and saturday, but today he gained many positions in the race. Impressive performances today from Magnussen, Hamilton, Leclerc and Perez on the last stint. Sirotkin performed the worst I think, and I wasn't impressed by Grosjean and Ericsson either.
  + 0
  
  May 13 2018 - 23:06
f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804
Boring enough race... massive lap 1 crash! Hopefully a lot closer in Monaco
- + 1
- May 13 2018 - 17:55
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Definitely below average. Im actually driving around Monaco right now in F1 2017. P3 With Vandoorne, but Im kinda stuck in it because virtual Hammy really loves driving into my tiny Honda powered bum.
  + 0
  
  May 13 2018 - 18:13