Turn one was very messy with Valtteri Bottas getting sideways mid corner. A late race alltercation between Lando Norris and Lance Stroll brought out the safety car.
cars directly in front of him. And, to add to his frustration, Sainz was now eighth. “For sure we don’t want to be fighting for that last point,” Ricciardo said. “We want to do better than where we are. We had Carlos’ pace today. Even when I was on the hard and he was on the medium, I was able to stay with him. We were good enough for that eighth place. It is frustrating not to execute. It is definitely not a 12th place car, but that midfield is tight. We have got to do better. I’ll give the team my perspective but try to focus on the positives as well and keep everyone’s spirits up.” It had also been a frustrating weekend for Scuderia Ferrari. The faces of Vettel, Leclerc and team principal Mattia Binotto were somber but not depressed during a post-race debrief attended by Auto Action. Ferrari had been soundly beaten in Spain, but that just makes the team more determined. “The season is still long and we will never give up,” Binotto said. “There is much to learn from here. We are disappointed about the race and
the performance during the weekend. Our hope was to deliver more. We brought some aero and engine upgrades here. And we were expecting to somehow be in the fight, but it has not been the case. “The upgrades worked well, power-wise, straightline speed we are good enough, but certainly we have some weaknesses on the car that were highlighted this weekend. It is up to us to assess and to improve in the future. It can only make us stronger in the future – and that is the final story of this weekend.” And now it is on to Monaco, the “home” race for many of the F1 drivers including last year’s winner Ricciardo, plus Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen, and a real home race for Leclerc, who is a native Monégasque. Asked if they thought Mercedes would win every race this year, Leclerc and Vettel both said a resounding “no.” But Monaco is a race where Mercedes has a very good chance of making it six wins in a row.
Max Verstappen took advantage of the turn one chaos to slip past Sebastian Vettel for third but could nothing about the Mercedes pair in front.
RESULTS ROUND 5: SPANISH GRAND PRIX Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 -
Driver Lewis Hamilton Valtteri Bottas Max Verstappen Sebastian Vettel Charles Leclerc Pierre Gasly Kevin Magnussen Carlos Sainz Jr. Daniil Kvyat Romain Grosjean Alexander Albon Daniel Ricciardo Nico Hulkenberg Kimi Raikkonen Sergio Perez Antonio Giovinazzi George Russell Robert Kubica Lance Stroll Lando Norris
Car Mercedes Mercedes Red Bull/Honda Ferrari Ferrari Red Bull/Honda Haas/Ferrari McLaren/Renault Toro Rosso/Honda Haas/Ferrari Toro Rosso/Honda Renault Renault Alfa Romeo/Ferrari Racing Point/Mercedes Alfa Romeo/Ferrari Williams/Mercedes Williams/Mercedes Racing Point/Mercedes McLaren/Renault
Laps 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 65 65 44 44
Gap 1h35m50.443s 4.074s 7.679s 9.167s 13.361s 19.576s 28.159s 32.342s 33.056s 34.641s 35.445s 36.758s 39.241s 41.803s 46.877s 47.691s 1 Lap 1 Lap Collision Collision
Points: Hamilton 112, Bottas 105, Verstappen 66, Vettel 64, 57, Gasly 21, Magnussen 14, Perez 13, Raikkonen 13, Norris 12, Sainz Jr 10, Ricciardo 6, Hulkenberg 6, Stroll 4, Albon 3, Kvyat 3, Grosjean 1. Constructors’ Points: Mercedes 217, Ferrari 121, Red Bull-Honda 87, McLaren-Renault 22, Racing Point-Mercedes 17, Haas-Ferrari 15 Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 13, Renault 12, Toro Rosso-Honda 6. Danill Kvyat had an impressive run to
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