Spain: post-race analysis 2021

Gosh, a winning tip. A surprise, to be sure. But a welcome one. The race wasn’t a classic but had a few moments.

Off the line both Mercedes (perhaps due to starting on that side of the circuit) fared poorly, with Verstappen getting past Hamilton at the first corner and Leclerc taking advantage when Bottas had to slow down in taking account of the tussle his team mate was in.

From there, the top two commenced a duel and proceeded away from the pack at a rate of knots. Bottas could not get past Leclerc, which was mildly surprising. However, Tsunoda’s engine stalled and he was forced to park it by the track, a rather odd situation that brought out a safety car. Happily, this was the only DNF of the race.

This closed the pack up but come the restart the top four retained their places. It was in an earlier pit stop that Bottas managed to get ahead of Leclerc, before pulling away for a slightly lonely third. Verstappen pitted a few laps earlier than Hamilton. The Briton was very close but never had a serious chance of passing.

However, Mercedes had a cunning plan. They brought him in for a stop and fresh tyres. Red Bull kept Verstappen out. Hamilton was between one and a half and two seconds faster ever lap. He faced serious competition when his team mate adopted a stubbornly Finnish interpretation of the order to let Hamilton past, but eventually he get through.

From there, Verstappen was a sitting duck. There was perhaps a chance with a dozen laps to go to pit , take second, and try to pass Hamilton on fresh soft tyres. But they just left him there, guaranteeing defeat. Verstappen did have a second stop after Hamilton passed him, and got the fastest lap, but it felt a bit limp.

Smart tactics from Mercedes. Hamilton extends his lead a little bit more. Bottas was never in contention and Perez was only 5th, behind Leclerc, who had a very good race indeed. Ricciardo had his best performance and result of the year in 6th, keeping Sainz behind him (still a decent result for Ferrari). Norris could only manage 8th which is relatively poor given his strong start to the season. Ocon was 9th and Gasly 10th.

Red Bull may end up losing both titles if Perez can’t up his game.

Very strong stuff from Ferrari, and not too bad from McLaren either. Alonso was holding 10th for a while but his tyres were gone and he couldn’t keep the gaggle of half a dozen cars behind him at bay forever.

Nice to finally have a green tip.

Bad news, though. The next race is Monaco, in a fortnight.

Morris Dancer

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