It is always marked as Formula One’s homecoming and this year’s Spanish Grand Prix is no different, as the world championship returns to continental Europe for the first time in 2019. Join The Roar tonight for a live blog from 11:10pm AEST.
The opening four races have painted a different picture to that which was etched during pre-season testing, at the very same 4.6km Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – where Ferrari were fastest and the hot tips for the title.
Instead, the Silver Arrows have dominated the flyaway events and have amassed a mighty lead in the championship courtesy of consecutive one-two finishes.
However, is the tide set to turn during the 66-lap grand prix? With teams having brought their first major upgrades of the season, there is certainly optimism that it will.
As far as qualifying was concerned, there was no response from Ferrari to Mercedes AMG as Valtteri Bottas claimed a hat-trick of pole positions in 2019, ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Having had a deficit in the final sector exposed by the Mercedes AMG, the red cars will start from third and fifth on the grid with Sebastian Vettel well behind the championship leaders and Charles Leclerc losing out a position on the second row to Max Verstappen.
25 out of 28 races in Barcelona have been won from the front row, which bodes well for the Silver Arrows who have won every race since 2014 barring 2016, when it was Verstappen who took his maiden win.
The updates seem to have given Haas a boost, with both their cars ending up on the fourth row of the grid. Though the question remains whether they will have the race pace to score the points, which they’ve lacked in the past few races.
If not, there are some handy operators behind in the form of the Toro Rossos, Daniel Ricciardo with a top-ten start in the Renault and the McLarens who will have a free choice of starting tyre outside the top-ten.
Given that this is Carlos Sainz’s home race and that he is the only Spaniard on the grid with no Fernando Alonso now, there will be expectation for the youngster to bring the car home in the points.
Will Mercedes make it an unprecedented five on the bounce then, or can their streak in 2019 be broken?
Tune in for live blog updates for the Spanish Grand Prix on The Roar from 11:10pm AEST, as the European leg of the Formula One world championship commences.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Well then, what a start to the season! Who'd have thought that Mercedes would have completed 5 one-two finishes in a row after the pre-season. The battle will continue though in a fortnight's time at the jewel in the crown Monaco Grand Prix, so thanks for tuning into this live blog and join me again on The Roar for Monaco. Ciao.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
-------- DRIVER'S -------- 112 - Lewis Hamilton 105 - Valtteri Bottas 66 -- Max Verstappen 64 -- Sebastian Vettel 57 -- Charles Leclerc 21 -- Pierre Gasly 14 -- Kevin Magnussen 13 -- Sergio Perez 13 -- Kimi Räikkönen 12 -- Lando Norris 10 -- Carlos Sainz 6 --- Daniel Ricciardo 6 --- Nico Hulkenberg 4 --- Lance Stroll 3 --- Alexander Albon 3 --- Daniil Kvyat 1 --- Romain Grosjean 0 --- Antonio Giovinazzi 0 --- George Russell 0 --- Robert Kubica
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
----- CONSTRUCTOR'S ----- 217 - Mercedes AMG 121 - Scuderia Ferrari 87 -- Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 22 -- McLaren Renault 17 -- Racing Point Mercedes 15 -- Haas Ferrari 13 -- Alfa Romeo Racing 12 -- Renault 6 --- Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda 0 --- Williams Mercedes
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RACE REPORT As Formula One returned to Europe, Mercedes AMG continued their perfect start to the 2019 season with a fifth consecutive one-two finish, courtesy of a faultless Lewis Hamilton victory. Having executed the perfect start from second on the grid, the reigning world champion got away from pole sitting teammate Valtteri Bottas, who then slotted into second for the rest of the race. With all the pressure on Ferrari to win their first race of the season, Sebastian Vettel bolted from third on the grid to join the Silver Arrows in going three abreast into the first corner. However, he lost out to Max Verstappen with no room to negotiate the cars ahead. The red team were made make a positional switch early in the piece, getting Charles Leclerc ahead of Vettel, who after the first lap had flat-spotted his tyres. Still there was no luck for the Scuderia, as Leclerc couldn’t challenge the Red Bull. Gambling on the hard tyres for Leclerc also failed to yield anything, as a late Safety Car for an incident between Lando Norris and Lance Stroll, saw Hamilton gifted a free pit-stop and then force the 21-year old to make an additional stop to not lose out a top five finish. Even on the medium tyres, Ferrari had no answer even for the Red Bull of Verstappen, who claimed the team’s first podium since the first race in Australia. Haas validated their updates brought to Barcelona, with the race pace which was lacking in previous races now back and Kevin Magnussen converting a top-ten start to their first points since Australia too. Romain Grosjean was fortunate enough to hold off the impressive Alexander Albon for tenth, after he was forced to cut the first chicane numerous times. Home favourite Carlos Sainz salvaged points after McLaren missed out on the top-ten in qualifying and then Norris’ retirement during the race. The Spaniard, like Grosjean had a Toro Rosso pressuring him – though held off Daniil Kvyat to eighth. No points for Renault, following a pit-lane start for Nico Hulkenberg and then a frustrating race for Daniel Ricciardo who was battling behind the McLaren of Sainz throughout much of the race. Also securing the fastest lap of the race sees Hamilton with his third win on the bounce in Spain, regain the lead of the driver’s championship over Bottas. As the Silver Arrows begin to streak away.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
STANDBY FOR RACE REPORT AND UPDATED STANDINGS
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
POST-RACE INTERVIEWS - Hosted by David Coulthard HAMILTON - "I just have to put it down to this incredible team. This is history in the making." BOTTAS - "It was pretty tight and I lost it at the start." "I got some good points and every single point is going to count this year." VERSTAPPEN - "It was a hectic first corner, so I just backed out of it." "Happy to be on the podium."
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RESULTS FROM THE 66-LAP SPANISH GRAND PRIX 1 L. Hamilton 2 V. Bottas 3 M. Verstappen 4 S. Vettel 5 C. Leclerc 6 P. Gasly 7 K. Magnussen 8 C. Sainz 9 D. Kvyat 10 R. Grosjean 11 A. Albon 12 D. Ricciardo 13 N. Hulkenberg 14 K. Räikkönen 15 S. Perez 16 A. Giovinazzi 17 G. Russell 18 R. Kubica RET L. Stroll RET L. Norris
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE SPANISH GRAND PRIX A fifth one-two finish for Mercedes AMG with Valtteri Bottas coming home in second. And its a podium for Red Bull as Max Verstappen withstands the Ferraris for third.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 66/66: FINAL LAP
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 65/66: 2 LAPS TO GO Again, Albon gets nothing more than a look at the Haas as his engineer eggs him on for the final championship point.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 64/66: 3 LAPS TO GO Albon makes his first real attempt to pass Grosjean, but the Haas gets to keep the position for now at least.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 63/66: Hamilton also holding fastest lap honours at the moment, which will give him an extra point at the end of the race.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 62/66: 5 LAPS TO GO Kvyat ahead of Grosjean now, as the Frenchman's points place finish is under threat from Albon and even Ricciardo in P12.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 61/66: No real challenge now from Vettel on Verstappen's third position. Hamilton and Bottas looking firm in front for another one-two finish.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 60/66: Ricciardo hitches onto the Toro Rosso train behind Grosjean, with all three cars behind the Haas using DRS on each other.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 59/66: This time Sainz gets the job done before going into the first corner and moves into eighth ahead of Grosjean. The Haas now has Kvyat and Albon for company.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 58/66: Grosjean forced wide again at Turn 1, but this time by Sainz who thought he had the Haas and indeed he didn't.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 56/66: Sainz now in ninth has a train of Toro Rossos behind him with Kvyat leading the charge. Grosjean again tries to make a lunge at Magnussen at Turn 1 and it is the same outcome for the Frenchman as he has to negotiate the run off.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 55/66: Bottas now plugs in some very fast sectors to cut the gap to his teammate to 2.8 seconds now. Vettel still beyond DRS reach on Verstappen.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 54/66: Stewards will investigate the incident between Stroll and Norris after the race then. Hamilton then has put daylight between himself and Bottas out the front, as well as setting a new fastest lap of the race too.