After the season kicked off with three exciting races, it was already predicted that the Spanish GP wouldn’t be able to continue that trend. Thankfully, the race wasn’t an absolute snooze, with a race-long battle encouraging fans to keep their eyes open. Here are the top of the class contenders and struggle bus riders from the fourth round of the 2021 season.
Top of the class:
The Hamilton/Verstappen battle
Thus far, it is looking like Max Verstappen is gearing up for a proper championship battle with Lewis Hamilton. Something which certainly kept us on the edge of our seats during the first three races – and in Catalunya, the two top dogs served as the main incentive for the fans to stay awake.
The battle started during qualifying. There, Verstappen qualified in front of Hamilton in the first and second qualifying round, whilst he had to admit defeat by 0.036 seconds in Q3, the round where it really mattered. This resulted in Hamilton’s 100st pole, another stat for the record books.
After the race start, Verstappen pulled a daring overtake on Hamilton in the first corner, snatching the lead and holding onto it for dear life as Hamilton glued himself to his backside. Max let go of it briefly as he pulled in the pits for his first stop, going for an undercut. It proved to be the right call, as when Lewis stopped a few laps later, he ended up six seconds behind the Dutchman.
Hamilton had to play catchup, but he did a solid job of it, as he found himself in striking distance again within the next 5 laps. From then on, the two drivers pushed and pulled at the single second which separated them. Verstappen managed to keep Hamilton out of his DRS zone most of the time, but only just.
On lap 43, Hamilton pitted again, ending up more than twenty seconds behind the Dutchman with his teammate Valtteri Bottas splitting the pair. The Finn didn’t seem keen on giving his teammate the place without a fight, despite team orders instructing him otherwise. Hamilton then passed Bottas on lap 53, after which it took him only a few more laps to get within striking distance from the Dutchman once more. Verstappen was a sitting duck when Hamilton overtook him on lap 60, just six laps from the end, but Max pitted immediately afterwards for a fresh set of softs, allowing him to snatch up the fastest lap point.
The Dutchman will be less than pleased that Hamilton pulls further ahead in the championship battle, and many amateur strategists will argue that perhaps he would have had a better shot at taking the win if they’d gone for a two-stop strategy straight out of the box – but Max himself admitted that the one-stop strategy was their best shot at taking home the win.
Daniel Ricciardo – Qualifying: 7th | Race: 6th
Until the Spanish Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo has needed some time to adjust to his new drive at McLaren. In spite of shading qualifying 2-1 going into Barcelona, teammate and McLaren golden boy Lando Norris pulled ahead in the team battle. In the first three races, the Englishman ended up in the top five each time – an impressive feat – whilst Ricciardo has trailed Lando further down in the top 10.
The Spanish Grand Prix was the first time Daniel got a good shot at showing what he’s worth, not only outqualifying Norris again, but comfortably finishing in front of his teammate for the first time on a Sunday.
The Australian driver didn’t have to do much defending against competitors, as he managed to pull ahead at the start. His main battle was with Sergio Pérez, but with the Red Bull being the faster car, it is no shame in having to concede defeat there. Daniel did manage to hold his own against Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari, although he had to concede that there is still some pace to find within himself and in the car. If that’s true, then that it is looking like the happiest driver pairing of F1 are gearing up for some pretty cutthroat racing.
Daniel’s P6 and Lando’s P8 is also the eighth consecutive double points finish for McLaren, their best run since the start of 2007, as the Woking outfit shade the fight for third in the Constructor’s ahead of Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc – Qualifying: 4th | Race: 4th
Whilst at first glance, finishing where you started doesn’t look all that impressive, but in my humble opinion Charles Leclerc earned an A on his report card for his weekend in Spain.
The height of Leclerc’s race in Catalunya was at the start, where he managed to pass Bottas round the outside in turn 3. Whilst Bottas later regained the place during pit stops, the Mercedes still being the faster car, Leclerc had enough pace to finish comfortably ahead of Sergio Pérez’s Red Bull. In the first three races of this season, Ferrari’s race pace wasn’t anything to write home about, so for him to keep a comfortable distance from the Red Bull shows that Ferrari is slowly but surely heading in the right direction.
The combined efforts of Leclerc and Sainz in Spain helped Ferrari to close within five points of McLaren in the fight for P3 in the constructors’ standings.
With some honourable mentions for…
Although not quite impressive enough to earn themselves an A on their report card, Williams deserve an honourable mention. Whilst the backmarkers have been able to pull a good qualifying out of the bag in recent showings, especially Russell, they just weren’t up to speed when it comes to race pace. Inevitably sinking like a stone to the back of the grid once the race got underway.
The tide slowly but surely seems to be turning on them in the positive sense, as Russell managed to contend for points until his tyres fell off near the end of the race, having gambled on an early two-stop strategy. Nevertheless, the Williams pair came home 14th and 16th. They still aren’t raking in any points, but this hopefully means that they will get a proper shot at getting some sooner rather than later.
Valtteri Bottas deserves another honourable mention. The Finn did what he needed to do in qualifying and finishing the race in 3rd, but that’s actually not what he earned kudos for in my book. Valtteri gets a lot of criticism for being a second driver, obediently following team orders and playing second fiddle to Lewis Hamilton. In recent months, it had been suggested that he’d lost all fight and some of his drives have been absolutely dreadful.
In Catalunya, Bottas showed that he still has a little fight left, as he didn’t immediately give in to the team orders given by Mercedes. Blocking his teammate for a few corners before eventually letting him past. It is most likely too little too late, however – and Mercedes certainly won’t be thanking him for it, even though Hamilton comfortably raked in that win…
Perhaps him getting an honourable mention isn’t entirely justified, but I’m not a massive fan of team orders to begin with, certainly not when we’re only four races into the season.
The struggle bus:
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Technically, an innate object (or place) can’t sit in the driver’s seat – so the metaphor doesn’t quite work how I planned it to – but still I decided to put Barcelona’s track behind the wheel of the struggle bus.
This mainly because Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya doesn’t produce many memorable races. Thinking back, only two incidents jump to mind. As a Verstappen fan, I have to highlight 2016, when the infamous collision between Hamilton and Rosberg took place, allowing Max to take his very first win. The first lap in 2018 also deserves a mention, as Grosjean caused quite the collision after spinning out and lighting his tyres on fire. But besides that, I have to concede that there hasn’t been much action in Catalunya in the last decade or so.
The stats back this up, as Hamilton has taken to the top step here 5 years in a row. This is also the fourth time we found the same three drivers on the podium, as Bottas and Verstappen have both been present in 2018, 2019 and 2020 as well.
Giovinazzi’s tyre
After Yuki Tsunoda brought out a safety car, Antonio Giovinazzi took the opportunity to dive into the pits. The stop wasn’t the usual 2 to 4 seconds we’ve come to expect, but instead lasted a whopping 35 seconds. In this same time span, Williams managed to double-stack Russel and Latifi to put them on mediums.
So, what went wrong? It seems that one of the tyres they were planning to fit onto Antonio’s car suffered a puncture, meaning that the pit crew had to run back inside to round up another set of tyres. The safety car was a blessing in disguise, as it meant that Giovinazzi didn’t lose as much as he could have. Had it happened whilst the other drivers had been on racing speed, the incident would have been catastrophic. Now, Gio managed to fight his way back up after dropping down the ranks and ended up finishing 15th under the chequered flag.
But who is to blame for the incident? The most logical culprit would be Pirelli, as they supply the tyres and it’s their responsibility that they’re in good working order. Thus far, Alfa Romeo hasn’t yet publicly complained though, and the team’s social media accounts only called the incident unfortunate, meaning that perhaps this wasn’t Pirelli’s mistake after all.
Update: Turns out that my initial assumption was partly correct, as Alfa Romeo confirmed that it was due to tyre valve failure caused by damage suffered to the tyres whilst they were under the care of the team.
Nikita Mazepin – Qualified 20th | Race: 19th
By now, Mazepin has a seat reserved for him in the struggle bus. The race wasn’t anything to write home about. He only gained a spot because Tsunoda was out of the race, but he made it to the chequered flags and caused no incidents. So, what earned him a seat on the struggle bus this time around is an incident during his qualifying rather than the race.
The incident occurred in Q1, as Norris was about to complete his first flying lap and encountered Mazepin at Turn 15. The Russian was preparing to start his flying lap, but slowed to maintain a gap to Mick Schumacher. By doing this, he ended up being jumped by Raikkonen and Tsunoda, who were making their way to the pits.
All three drivers had been informed of Norris approaching, and whilst Raikkonen and Tsunoda did their best to give Norris space, Mazepin took this opportunity to re-pass Tsunoda and Raikkonen, blocking Norris in the process. This stunt earned him his second penalty point and a 3-place grid penalty. As Mazepin was already due to start last, the grid penalty didn’t affect him much, but the penalty point could give him some more trouble further down the road.
In a race where the Haas’ had the same strategy, Nikita still ended up 50 seconds behind teammate Mick. Mazepin is showing very little improvement, whilst Schumacher has been battling with the Williams pair and even an AlphaTauri. In conclusion, Nikita didn’t have a racing weekend to write home about, and he certainly doesn’t seem to be making any friends in the paddock either.
Then, some dishonourable mentions for…
Sergio Pérez hasn’t quite earned a seat on the struggle bus, but his performance isn’t quite up to par either. He qualified 8th and finished 5th. Considering his teammate managed to get up to p2 in qualifying, Sergio could have done better on Saturday, but the Mexican cited issues with his shoulders as an explanation for his disappointing qualifying.
During the race, Sergio seemed to be more on top of his game, as he managed to work his way up to 5th place. What can’t be ignored, however, is that Mercedes is pulling ahead in the constructors’ championship. What Red Bull needs Sergio for, is to rake in as many (if not more) points as Bottas is.
Had Pérez qualified where Red Bull racing expects him to, he potentially would have been able to assist his teammate as well. Perhaps he would have had a shot at holding up Hamilton to allow Max Verstappen to take this win home, or he could have tried to snatch some points and a podium spot away from Bottas. Sergio has a crucial role to play, but he isn’t doing this just yet. Hopefully, his form improves as the season continues.
Another driver who deserves a (dis)honourable mention is Fernando Alonso. During the race, he came within six laps of taking points at his home Grand Prix. He was right in the thick of it for most of the race, battling Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll twice and holding off those behind him to cling onto his spot.
The Spaniard lacked pace in the latter stages of the race, however, as quite the train formed behind him whilst he drove in P9. He was passed in quick succession by a number of drivers, falling down to 17th and finishing outside of the points. He blames his one-stop strategy for this, suggesting that it was an optimistic call to go for. Perhaps this (dis)honourable mention is meant more for Alpine’s strategy call rather than Alonso himself, but as a veteran driver with a few championships under his belt, you would expect him to be able to put his foot down if he didn’t believe in the strategy thought up for him.
Whilst some teams and drivers will have been quite pleased with their run in Barcelona, for the fans and spectators this is a race which will soon fade from our memories. F1 has a week break and then will be back at the end of May for the secondary home Grand Prix for many drivers, as we will be heading to Monaco! The race itself will be on the 23rd of May and lights go out at 3pm local time.