Spain: post-race analysis
It seems this year must
be the most frustrating so far. The Lotus double score bet didn’t
come off. Both drivers and the car were performing well enough.
Maldonado lost 30s in a prolonged pit stop after suffering some
damage (odd damage) to his rear wing, and later had to retire. On
pace, he and Grosjean were dead certs (before the pit stop) to get
into the points. Whilst it doesn’t feel like a misjudgement, it’s
another red result, which is a little disappointing.
Off the line, Hamilton
had a slightly tardy get away, enabling Vettel to pass him into the
first corner. The Briton shifted to a three stop strategy, and whilst
this eventually enabled him to claim a comfortable 2nd, it
also meant that Rosberg cruised to his first victory of the season.
Vettel was relatively untroubled in 3rd, albeit grumpy on
the radio.
Ferrari didn’t have
the pace for the win but Vettel did a good job of annoying Hamilton
until the team screwed up his strategy (that said, I think he
would’ve been 3rd anyway). What was worse was getting
Raikkonen’s wrong, which saw him stuck behind Bottas (not unlike
Bahrain, when Vettel was stuck behind the younger Finn).
Massa recovered well
from a rubbish qualifying to get 6th.
Ricciardo ended up 7th
and Kvyat nabbed the final point. Not too bad, but given where Red
Bull were, it’s not great.
Grosjean got a
comfortable 8th. Maldonado had been faster than him and
driving well, but suffered rear wing damage, not sure how, and
eventually had to retire (again, not sure why). He had a very long
pit stop when the crew cleared away a large, dangling piece of carbon
fibre which cost him 30s and may have kept him out of the points, but
it wasn’t clear. Pretty disappointing for the team as they easily
had the pace for a double points finish.
Right from the off it
was clear Toro Rosso had buggered up their aerodynamic settings. They
had too much drag, which made the car quick over one lap but a
sitting duck on a long straight with an over-long DRS zone. They
spent the whole race gradually drifting down the field due to the
set-up mistake. A shame, but there we are. Sainz got 9th
and Verstappen was out of the points in 11th.
Alonso was out of the
points but driving well when his brakes failed. Thankfully, the
McLaren front jack man had the agility and reflexes of a serval when
the Spaniard came in to retire, and no-one was harmed when he
overshot his pit box by some way. He was going a lot better than
Button, who finished but had problems with the car and was a lowly
16th.
Grosjean also overran
his pit box, and unfortunately his front jack man did take some pain.
I don’t think it’s serious (he was smiling ruefully on the camera
as he had some ice over his delicates) but even so, I hope Grosjean
apologises after the race.
After strong
performances in other races, the Saubers were a bit lacklustre with
both drivers finishing out of the points and never threatening to do
otherwise. That said, they were a bit rubbish at one earlier circuit
(I forget which), so this may be a flash in the pan, or it could be
the first sign they’re being out-developed.
Force India had minimal
upgrades, unlike most teams, and it showed, with Perez 13th
and Hulkenberg 15th. After Austria they should get the
B-spec car, and hopefully be able to get points regularly.
Both Manor Marussias
finished, Stevens once again ahead of Merhi.
The race was not a
classic, although there was a fair bit of overtaking and other
shenanigans in the midfield and lower down the order. The
aerodynamics still make it tricky to follow cars too closely.
Bit frustrated by the
Lotus result. Every race this year has been red. I was right about
the pace being there. I’m not sure, at the time of writing, why
precisely Maldonado retired.
Drivers’ title:
Hamilton 111
Rosberg 91
Vettel 80
Vettel’s not
out of it, but with the Mercedes still the class of the field he’ll
need the team to out-develop Mercedes. Hamilton remains in a strong
position. I believe he had the pace today but the bad start and
lengthy stint stuck behind Vettel made victory impossible. Good day
for Rosberg, but everything’s still looking rosy for Hamilton.
Hamilton’s got to win
11 of the remaining 14 races to beat the season record. I think
that’s possible but by no means certain.
Next up: Monaco. Great
circuit for radio.
Morris Dancer
Good afternoon from Barcelona, Mr Dancer!
ReplyDeleteIronically for the first (and probably only) GP that I'll go to this year I didn't bet on anything significant. I just went for obvious targets. The problem with betting this is that a single bad result puts you into the red. Today, for example, only Massa saved my Maldonado bet in particular and my book in general. All bets with Hills as usual..
All of these were 1 pointers:
Points Finish – Pastor Maldonado @ 5/4 LOSE
Top 6 Finish – Sebastian Vettel @ 1/8 WIN
Top 6 Finish – Kimi Raikkonen @ 4/11 WIN
Top 6 Finish – Felipe Massa @ EVS WIN
Top 6 Finish – Valtteri Bottas @ 1/3 WIN
which gave me 17% up on what I thought were reasonable sized stakes. However this afternoon the winnings only just covered one unexceptional bottle of rioja. That's Barca prices for you. Still, beats paying for it!
Hasta luego
Hasta luego?
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Mr. M. Must admit to being slightly disconsolate so far with this season. Still, hopefully I'll get some 50/50s going my way soon.
Hasta luego is basically Spanish for "see you later" :)
ReplyDelete