Track Record Spanish Grand Prix

track record FORMULA 1 EMIRATES GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2019

FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX

The Singapore Grand Prix™ is a truly special race, in a place that’s like nowhere else on earth. It stands out as the only regular night race on the Formula One™ calendar. It also takes place on a floodlit street circuit, where sharp twists and turns are plentiful.

The fact that said street circuit is in the city-state of Singapore - where giant vertical gardens stand alongside huge futuristic skyscrapers - only adds to the allure. In other words, it’s a must-visit for F1™ fans and travel-lovers alike.

DON'T MISS THE UNMISSABLE? BOOK NOW www.gptraveller.co.uk + 44 (0) 114 345 1977

THE TRACK RECORD FORMULA 1 EMIRATES GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 10 - 12 MAY 2019

Editor Rob Burley Photography James Moy www.jamesmoy.com Editorial Giles Richards (Guardian News & Media Ltd) Contact www.trackrecordmagazine.com/contact Instagram traveller.rob

This publication is unofficial and is not associated in any way with the Formula One group of companies. F1, FORMULA ONE, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trade marks of Formula One Licensing B.V.

THE TRACK RECORD

THE GRID Valtteri Bottas outshines Lewis Hamilton to claim Spanish GP pole 2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES

3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI

4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA

5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI

6 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA

7 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI

8 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI

1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES

9 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA

gptraveller.co.uk

THE TRACK RECORD

10 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT

11 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT

12 23 Alexander Albon SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA

13 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT

14 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI

15 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES

16 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT

17 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES

18 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI

19 63 George Russell WILLIAMS MERCEDES

20 88 Robert Kubica WILLIAMS MERCEDES

gptraveller.co.uk

Lewis Hamilton has expressed in the past his admiration for Ferrari and in the paddock of the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend, questions of a potential future move to the Scuderia were once again bandied about. After his dominant victory for Mercedes at the Circuit de Catalunya and Ferrari’s capitulation to the once more all-conquering silver arrows, it is difficult to imagine any entreaty from the sport’s most historic marque that would currently appeal to the British driver.

Hamilton completed his victory from his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, in second having beaten the Finn off the start. Having taken the lead through turn one it was not to be relinquished.

Ferrari’s difficult weekend yielded only fourth and fifth for Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc.

gptraveller.co.uk

THE TRACK RECORD

It continues Mercedes’ record-breaking run of five-

Most ominous, however, is the 48-point gap to Vettel

successive one-two finishes this season and has

in fourth which is a chasm after only five races.

almost certainly ensured the title is now a two-horse

Strong as Mercedes have been, Ferrari’s challenge

race between Hamilton, who has retaken the title

has been at best staccato and at worst a forlorn

lead, and Bottas. Attempting to take a sixth world

effort that looks increasingly as if it is falling away

championship and third in a row, Hamilton’s form is

alarmingly early. Ferrari had brought an early engine

ominously strong, with this 76th career victory. As

upgrade and aerodynamic improvements to Spain

things stand only Bottas looks like coming close to

and, with a straight-line speed advantage, had

him. He leads the Finn by seven points and is 46

hoped to be strong here.

clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was third here and is third in the championship.

gptraveller.co.uk

THE TRACK RECORD

But Mercedes had also brought aero upgrades and,

he is closing in on Michael Schumacher’s record of

with Ferrari still struggling with pace through the

seven and, should Mercedes take the constructors’

slower corners, they look to have found another step

title this year, they will have beaten Ferrari’s record of

ahead of the Scuderia, who have been left once

five in a row.

again trying to ascertain the best way forward for their car. Beaten here by Red Bull and off the pace of

“I’m just enjoying driving with this team and

Mercedes all weekend they are floundering as the

enjoying growing with this team,” he said. “It’s

title slips away.

incredible what we’re achieving and what we have achieved in these six or seven years. I plan on

The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, said on

making this team and working with this team to

Saturday the potential of a Hamilton move to Ferrari

make it the most successful team of all time. That’s

had been discussed with him and within the team.

my current goal and my sole focus.”

“You have to simply acknowledge that probably it’s in every driver’s head to drive at Ferrari one day,” he

Hamilton had a fine start from second behind Bottas

said.

on pole. He just had his nose in front and the inside line into turn one and Bottas could do nothing,

In the wake of this race Hamilton did not appear in

losing the lead through the apex. The Finn had

the slightest bit tempted. With five championships

suffered a clutch vibration that cost him at the start

gptraveller.co.uk

and accepted that, with overtaking so hard in Spain,

“I prefer it when they are in the mix with us,” he said.

it had cost him the race.

“I prefer the races where, for example Bahrain, they were on the front row. I like that. Especially when

Hamilton had given the Finn room as they vied with

we’re intertwined, when it’s Ferrari-Mercedes or

one another through the opening turns in Baku but

Mercedes-Ferrari. The last couple of years that’s what

had warned he would not be so generous again and

we’ve had and, from a driver’s or a team’s point of

duly held his line and the lead through turn one.

view, it’s much better when you’re competing with another team.

Bottas stayed with him but without sufficient pace advantage to challenge. Hamilton was calm and

“When it becomes more internal, it’s less exciting I

controlled and handled a late safety car which

would say but it’s still massively challenging for the

closed the pack up with ease. It was a consummate

drivers. We still have to deliver.”

performance by the world champion, who also secured the extra point for the fastest lap.

They are in every position to do so. Much as Hamilton may admire Ferrari’s road cars, he and

He refused to write off the threat from Ferrari and

Mercedes look to have put their F1 model already to

genuinely seems to enjoy the battle with an

the sword.

opposing team but it is hard not to accept that his desire to see it this season is increasingly wishful thinking.

gptraveller.co.uk

“Obviously it was a disappointing weekend for us,” Vettel said. “We were hoping to be a lot faster. Now we find ourselves not so fast.”

Ferrari employed team orders switching Leclerc in front of Vettel and later vice-versa but to no great effect in the overall result but Vettel said they would discuss it with the team.

“We will talk about it internally but inside the car we try to do our own race. I think in the beginning it was clear Charles was faster,” Vettel said. “When he was putting on more and more pressure I was happy to let him go.”

LUXURY MONACO GRAND PRIX YACHT HOSPITALITY Thursday £550 per person Friday £400 per person**

There is no better way to view this demanding street race than from the deck of our 45 metre luxury yacht, moored in a prime Zone 1 berth.

Our yacht packages include outstanding hospitality from the moment guests step on board our luxury Wajer tenders.

• Complimentary bar with premium brand Champagne • Gourmet buffet cuisine throughout the day • Sunday pre race Q&A with F1™ celebrity • Superb views of the world’s most famous street circuit

Saturday £1,000 per person Sunday £2,100 per person Saturday & Sunday £3,100 per person

BOOK NOW

**Half day of hospitality, up to & including lunch

www.gptraveller.co.uk + 44 (0) 114 345 1977

FIRST 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES

"It’s been an incredible day for the team. We’ve brought an upgrade here and everyone worked so hard to make that possible. I’m very proud of everyone back at the factory and thankful for all their hard work. The guys here at the track are all performing at an extremely high level as well, thank you all. When the lights went out, my initial getaway was quite good and we were very close all the way down into Turn 1. I think the Ferrari was alongside us at one point too, so it was a great battle and also a decisive moment in the race. After that I just had to keep my head down and focus on trying to deliver each lap."

gptraveller.co.uk

THE TRACK RECORD

SECOND 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES

"I had an issue with my clutch at the start, it

the moment; hats off to every single member

was vibrating and it seemed like it was biting

of the team, both at Brackley and Brixworth

and releasing at a very quick frequency, so my

but also here at the race track. I’m looking

initial getaway was really poor. Unfortunately

forward to the race in Monaco; it’s such a

that meant that all the hard work of the

unique track and a completely different

weekend was lost at the start, but that’s the

challenge, so it’s difficult to say who will be the

way it goes sometimes. We’re a strong team

strongest team around there."

and will investigate the cause of the issue to make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future. For me personally, it wasn’t the best of days, but from a team’s perspective it was a really good weekend. Congratulations to Lewis for the win, he had a strong race pace today.

The team is performing at an incredible level at

gptraveller.co.uk

THIRD 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA

“I’m trying to maximise everything I have and I’m

in that corner was very crucial as from there on I

happy with today’s result. We’re P3 again which is

could do my own pace and strategy, which worked

pretty representative of our pace at the moment,

out well. The Mercedes cars were out of reach, but

and it’s great to score more good points. I knew we

we were very consistent and we’re of course happy

had a good chance in the race to fight with Ferrari

to be on the podium. Everybody is very motivated to

and that’s what we did. At the start it was quite

close the gap and we will try a few things in the test

hectic with three cars going into one corner, so I

next week that can give us a better direction in

decided to back out of it, but actually in the end I

which way to work.”

had a good line out of Turn 2 into Turn 3. To take P3

gptraveller.co.uk

THE TRACK RECORD

FOURTH 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI

“Today we more or less maximized our result. It was obviously a disappointing race for us as we were hoping to be a lot faster. After the start, I had a go at the cars in front, but flatspotted a tyre and compromised my own race. You don’t win the race at the first corner, I know, but I thought at least we can mix things up with Mercedes and have a bit more of a fight with everybody. Charles and I tried not to interfere with each other and work together as much as we could. It’s still very early in the season and we are taking it race by race, but I think we can only come back from where we are now as the whole team is working flat out.”

THE TRACK RECORD

FIFTH 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI

“It was a challenging race. The first stint was quite positive on my side, but then it became more difficult. We wanted to go to the end of the race on the hard compound, but when the Safety Car came out, we realised we would struggle at the restart and so I pitted for a set of mediums. I struggled with the balance on the second and third stints, and lost a bit of confidence with the car. We have a lot of work ahead of us and will push as hard as possible to close the gap to the front. We gathered a lot of data this weekend and will continue to do so at the test next week.�

gptraveller.co.uk

OWN A PIECE OF F1 HISTORY SHOP ONLINE AT WWW.VICTORYMONDAY.COM

THE TRACK RECORD

SIXTH 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA

“The first stint was ok but towards the end I started to struggle with grip and degradation.

We had a lot of rubber debris in the front wing which meant I was sliding around so the pace just dropped from the second stint onwards. I tried to push as much as I could but I couldn’t keep up with the Ferraris in front of me. At the Safety Car restart, I tried a move on Charles but I couldn’t make it stick. It was a pretty good fight and I think at the start we actually touched in Turn 3. In the end, it’s good to score some points. We have the test coming up on Tuesday so we can try some more things and keep pushing. Looking forwards, I think we have good potential on some of the upcoming tracks which should suit our car better."

SEVENTH 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI

“It was good race in terms of pace, we had strong pace – especially towards the end. I didn’t have that many problems with tires. It’s been much better for us this time. We had a brilliant second pit stop from the team when the safety car came out to jump Kvyat. I had good temperature in my tires at the restart, I got past Romain, then attacked Gasly as well, but I couldn’t quite hold on to him. It was a good race for us.”

gptraveller.co.uk

THE TRACK RECORD

EIGHTH 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT

“Good result on home soil! Congratulations to

“However, we need to analyse why the pace

everyone in the team for getting a points finish

wasn’t there today and why I was struggling so

today because it was not an easy race for us. It

much in the last sector. But for the rest, it was

was one of those well-fought points finishes.

one of those races that, thanks to the crowd

We struggled for half the race but executed a

and thanks to the help of the whole team, we

good strategy, great pit-stops and I managed

managed to get into the points. Thank you to

to do some good overtaking at the right

all the fans for the great support the whole

moment to take our chances and finish eighth.

weekend.”

gptraveller.co.uk

THE TRACK RECORD

NINTH 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA

“There were a few exciting moments today, but unfortunately, we lost our race in the pit lane as the tyres weren’t ready for me. It was a very last-minute call to pit, these things happen with such tricky situations, and I’m sure we will learn from this as a team. I think we could have finished in P7 as that’s where we were running before the pit lane mishap. We still got a couple of points today which is always welcome. The car’s performance is improving and I’m feeling always more comfortable with the car. I’m sure we have some good days ahead.”

gptraveller.co.uk

THE TRACK RECORD

TENTH 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI

“Yes, it’s been a good weekend, we’ve had good pace. Before the safety car we were running on our own, doing a good race – I was happy that. The restart was a bit more complicated, it wasn’t ideal for me as I lost a few positions in there. Overall, I’m happy with the way we’ve acted this weekend, happy we’ve shown that the car is fast. Now it’s onto the next one.”

gptraveller.co.uk

FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX

If the final race of the F1™ season is also one of the most exciting, then it’s no surprise everyone wants a ticket for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix™.

The Abu Dhabi weekend is special for lots more reasons. It’s the only Grand Prix™ staged in twilight, when the cars gleam in the low sun over beautiful Yas Island. Then there’s Yas Island itself – a place devoted to leisure and entertainment, full of fun and thrilling destinations. Not to mention Ferrari World Abu Dhabi!

In other words, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix™ is well worth the trip

BOOK NOW

www.gptraveller.co.uk + 44 (0) 114 345 1977

THE TRACK RECORD

PADDOCK CAM

gptraveller.co.uk

THE TRACK RECORD

gptraveller.co.uk

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO FULLY INCLUSIVE TRAVEL PACKAGES AVAILABLE NOW

BOOK NOW

GRANDSTAND VIEWING

LUXURY YACHT HOSPITALTY

SHANGRI-LA TERRACE

FAIRMONT HAIRPIN

www.gptraveller.co.uk + 44 (0) 114 345 1977

SPANISH

GRAND

PRIXâ„¢

GP TRAVELLER BARCELONA MINI GUIDE

The Spanish Grand Prix is one of Formula Ones

Where’s the party?

traditional races and Barcelona has been its home

The Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya is just 30

since 1991. The modern facilities at the Circuit de

minutes from Barcelona on the AP7 motorway,

Barcelona-Catalunya coupled with fantastic food,

which connects France with Catalonia, Madrid

great weather, history, culture and architecture

and Zaragoza.

make it an attractive F1 destination for race fans.

Spain’s interest in Formula One has increased greatly since Fernando Alonso joined the grid in 2003. As well as becoming a double World Champion, he was the first Spaniard to win at his home circuit.

gptraveller.co.uk

When in Barcelona...

Barcelona's 5 kilometres of beaches are one of the

Park Güell is a pleasant way to spend a morning and

city's main attractions. St Sebastia, Barceloneta and

take in the surreal, sculpted architecture of Antoni

Somorrostro are the largest and often the busiest,

Gaudi.

but beyond the Port Olympico is Nova Icaria Beach, which arguably has the best seaside atmosphere.

The 14th-century Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar, also known as the "cathedral of La Ribera", is one of

Home to creatives and interesting boutiques, the El

the most perfect examples of Gothic style

Born neighbourhood is good for one-of-a-kind

architecture.

pieces by Catalan designers.

Tibidabo mountain is the highest mountain in the The Gothic quarter is home to a labyrinth of narrow

Sierra de Collserola range and has beautiful views

winding streets as well as the magnificent cathedral.

overlooking Barcelona.

Laced with gargoyles and stone intricacies La

The UNESCO- listed Casa Milà is one of Gaudí’s most

Catedral de Barcelona is a great example of Catalan

iconic buildings. Built between 1906 and 1912, the

Gothic architecture.

building is loved for its unique shape and façade.

gptraveller.co.uk

When you’re hungry go to...

A cosy tavern of gastronomic delight lies opposite

Grand Hotel Central boasts bird’s eye views next to

the famous Botero cat sculpture in El Raval.

Barcelona Cathedral in the heart of the city. The

Suculent has an astonishing menu of tapas at a

rooftop pool deck and bar is the perfect place to

reasonable price.

hangout with a cocktail after a day at the circuit.

Picnic Restaurant gets busy on weekends with

Hotel Brummell. This thoughtfully designed 20 room

hungry customers looking for brunch. It’s also good

hotel in Poble Sec is off the beaten track, but still an

for lunch, dinner and cocktails but be sure to book

easy walk to the city. Book a room with a terrace and

ahead.

outdoor soaking tub. The weekend brunch is popular with locals.

La Barceloneta sits along the neighbourhood of the same name and is full of family-run fish restaurants.

Hotel DO: Plaça Reial is located in one of the most historic squares in the city. This boutique hotel has

You’ll want to stay at...

an excellent restaurant, roof terrace, pool and spa.

The ultra modern 44-storey Hotel Arts Barcelona has everything a GP Traveller could dream of - close

Most of the 18 luxury rooms have views over the Plaça Reial.

proximity to the beach, jaw dropping views, a sleek swimming pool and spa, plus a two michelin-starred restaurant. gptraveller.co.uk

FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX

The Singapore Grand Prix™ is a truly special race, in a place that’s like nowhere else on earth. It stands out as the only regular night race on the Formula One™ calendar. It also takes place on a floodlit street circuit, where sharp twists and turns are plentiful.

The fact that said street circuit is in the city-state of Singapore - where giant vertical gardens stand alongside huge futuristic skyscrapers - only adds to the allure. In other words, it’s a must-visit for F1™ fans and travel-lovers alike.

DON'T MISS THE UNMISSABLE? BOOK NOW www.gptraveller.co.uk + 44 (0) 114 345 1977