The Formula One season continues after the flyaway events at the Spanish Grand Prix. Join The Roar from 9:30pm (AEST) for all the action.
Despite a mere three-week interval between events, it feels like an age since the conclusion of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which saw reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton win his third race of the season.
Now Formula One dawns onto Europe for the first time in 2015, with the Spanish Grand Prix at the classic Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
66 laps will be contested across the 4.6 kilometre circuit where the defending world champion Hamilton claimed victory (his fourth in fact) last year.
The high track temperatures along with the equally high loads on the tyres means that Pirelli will be supplying the hard and medium option compounds for this weekend. With that in mind, an opportunity presents itself for Ferrari to repeat their triumph at the Malaysian Grand Prix which was held under similar conditions.
Mercedes AMG of course remain the outright favourites to lead the proceedings, however the break an opportunity for the teams to develop new upgrades, and the possibility of a red car being closer to the silver ones is on.
Reliability showed its hand in Bahrain for Hamilton and Nico Rosberg as towards the dying stages of the race, their brake-by-wire system failed, meaning that Ferrari could have more than just the heat and hard tyres come to their favour in Barcelona.
The very capable Sebastian Vettel has won once at the circuit, while his teammate Kimi Räikkönen boasts two wins.
As stated earlier, Barcelona is a key circuit for the teams to introduce their first phase of updates on their cars. While it is expected that all squads bring the relevant upgrades, it is thought that some will make more gains than others.
Red Bull (especially on the Renault side) will expect an improvement in their reliability and drivability, while McLaren will seek further strides in their engine programme with Honda.
The rest of the runners should remain largely where they have been so far this season. It will be intriguing to see what advancements Williams have made during the time off, as they were stunned by the rapid improvement of Ferrari during the off-season.
Considering Mercedes-Benz is the Grove team’s power-unit supplier, they’d probably want their cars as buffers in between the AMG duo and the Prancing Horses.
It should be a weekend then where the possibility of a Ferrari win in terms of pace and strategy will be on the cards, however the Silver Arrows remain yet as favourites. In particular Hamilton.
Join me on The Roar at 9:30pm (AEST) to find out.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Thanks Bayden, good to have you following!
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Thank you then for joining me this evening on The Roar for coverage of the Spanish Grand Prix. The Roar will be back in a fortnight's time for the jewel in the crown of Formula One; the Monaco Grand Prix. Until then, it's good night from me.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Other highlights of the race was Bottas who did well to hold off the Ferrari of Räikkönen, showing once again like he did in Bahrain that he isn't easily psyched out in high-pressure situations. Fourth you feel is the best Williams can finish at the moment, until they can close the gap to the red team. Räikkönen too showed that he can extend his tyre life well, in comparison to the top three. However his bane remains to be qualifying. A stronger result on Saturday, could berth better finishes on the Sunday. Ricciardo and Kvyat both finished in the top ten for Red Bull, to outscore their junior team on this occasion. A tough day out for McLaren after encouraging signs across the weekend, with Alonso's retirement and the struggles of Button.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
So it was a crushing victory for Mercedes AMG over Ferrari and a convincing win for Rosberg to get his title aspirations back on track. Ferrari will look to their power-unit upgrades in Canada to perhaps make gains on the Silver Arrows. However the next round of the championship is in Monaco, a venue where Rosberg has claimed pole and the race win for two consecutive years.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
-------- DRIVERS' -------- 111 - Lewis Hamilton 91 -- Nico Rosberg 80 -- Sebastian Vettel 52 -- Kimi Räikkönen 42 -- Valtteri Bottas 39 -- Felipe Massa 25 -- Daniel Ricciardo 16 -- Romain Grosjean 14 -- Felipe Nasr 8 --- Carlos Sainz 6 --- Max Verstappen 6 --- Nico Hulkenberg 5 --- Sergio Perez 5 --- Marcus Ericsson 5 --- Daniil Kvyat 0 --- Fernando Alonso 0 --- Jenson Button 0 --- Roberto Merhi 0 --- Will Stevens 0 --- Pastor Maldonado
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
----- CONSTRUCTORS' ----- 202 - Mercedes AMG 132 - Scuderia Ferrari 81 -- Williams Mercedes 30 -- Red Bull Racing 19 -- Sauber Ferrari 16 -- Lotus Mercedes 14 -- Scuderia Toro Rosso 11 -- Force India Mercedes 0 --- McLaren Honda 0 --- Manor Ferrari
Bayden Westerweller
Roar Guru
Great job this evening, added a lot to the broadcast with your input!
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
SPANISH GP RESULTS: 1 N. Rosberg 2 L. Hamilton 3 S. Vettel 4 V. Bottas 5 K. Räikkönen 6 F. Massa 7 D. Ricciardo 8 R. Grosjean 9 C. Sainz 10 D. Kvyat 11 M. Verstappen 12 F. Nasr 13 S. Perez 14 M. Ericsson 15 N. Hulkenberg 16 J. Button 17 W. Stevens 18 R. Merhi RET P. Maldonado RET F. Alonso
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Sainz is now under investigation for leaving the track limits and gaining an advantage over Kvyat on the last lap.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 66/66: Bottas hangs on to finish P4 ahead of Räikkönen. Massa, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Sainz and Kvyat round out the top ten.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 66/66: NICO ROSBERG wins the Spanish Grand Prix, having led the race from pole position to claim his first victory of the year. His Mercedes AMG teammate Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second, but retains his world championship lead. And Sebastian Vettel brings another podium home for Ferrari, albeit 45 seconds behind.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 63/66: Verstappen and Sainz fighting it out for the final points paying position. The Spaniard makes his move down the pit-straight with DRS assistance
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 60/66: Hamilton continues to chip away at Rosberg's lead. The deficit is now 13.6 seconds, yet is beyond catching considering Rosberg's pace in reserve too.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 58/66: Räikkönen is now within the DRS range of Bottas in the Williams.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 57/66: Hamilton told to consolidate his position, with the laps remaining. The gap to Rosberg is 17.2 seconds and Vettel is a further 17 seconds behind him.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 55/66: 1:28.270! Another fast lap from Hamilton. He may yet bother Rosberg at the end... Vettel once again is frustrated by the lack of blue flags. Räikkönen now 3.4 seconds behind Bottas.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 54/66: Räikkönen currently 4.9 seconds behind Bottas. Can he steal P4 from his compatriot? 1:28.401, a fastest lap of the race for Hamilton.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 53/66: Vettel expresses displeasure at losing time amongst the traffic. 3.7 seconds is the gap between his Ferrari and Hamilton.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 52/66: Third and final stop for Hamilton. New set of medium tyres goes on the #44 car and yes, he will exit the pits ahead of Vettel to retain second in the race.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 48/66: Massa makes his third and final stop, switching off the hard tyres and for quicker, medium compound.