Hamilton wins first ever Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has won his fourth consecutive Grand Prix in 2014 and first ever career win in Spain, taking the chequered flag first ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. It is also Mercedes fourth one-two finish of the 2014 season, putting the team firmly on top of the World Constructors’ Championship just 5 races into the season.

Daniel Ricciardo once again outraced his three time World Champion teammate Sebastian Vettel, finishing in third place whilst Vettel would only manage fourth. It is Ricciardo’s first official podium finish n Formula 1 after he was excluded from the Australian Grand Prix at the start of the season.

The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg got off the line to start the race and complete their first lap in the positions in which they started. By the end of the first lap, Hamilton already led teammate Rosberg by just over a second as Hamilton started to pull away from the rest of the pack. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas moved ahead of Ricciardo into third off the line as Ricciardo fell back into fourth before the pack settled into their respective positions behind.

There was little contact at the start of the race between any of the drivers; the most notable incident coming when McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen ran wide, returning to the track and slightly making contact with a Toro Rosso but causing no damage to either car. Maldonado also caused a collision and would be handed a five second stop go penalty a few laps later.

On lap 7, Ricciardo made a valiant effort to regain third position from Bottas, having used DRS earlier to close the gap on the Williams. Bottas would have none of it though, doing a great job to shut the door on Ricciardo. Ricciardo was then instructed by the Red Bull team to drop back 2 seconds if he is not able to pass Bottas in order to conserve the tyres. Ricciardo would follow instructions, leaving a safe gap between himself and the Williams ahead.

Ten laps into the race, and Sebastian Vettel, who started the race from tenth on the grid having failed to set a time in Q3 yesterday, was placed P14 after a poor start saw him quickly fall back. Vettel reported problems with the car on his out lap before Christian Horner reported it was a software glitch the teams were confident they could overcome. Vettel would get himself past the Sauber ahead to move into P13 before the tenth lap came to an end, quickly finding himself battling the McLaren of Jenson Button for P12.

Vettel then took his first pit-stop of the afternoon on lap 13 for the hard tyre compound. Even for a three stop strategy, the move was seen as an earlier than usual start, putting Vettel back on track in P21 just behind the Marussia of Max Chilton. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo would pit two laps later, staying on the medium compound. Another unusually early stop for the team, it would appear that Red Bull were changing their strategy to gain track position.

Ricciardo’s stop would then trigger a slew of stops as the pit lane would be filled with cars from all teams taking their first stop of the afternoon for new rubber. Race leader Lewis Hamilton would pit on lap 19, handing the lead to Nico Rosberg and rejoining in P2. Rosberg appeared to be on a different strategy though, staying on track longer than Hamilton whilst seemingly conserving the tyres. He would not pit until lap 22, just after then third placed Valtteri Bottas. Lewis Hamilton was close enough to regain the lead after Rosberg’s stop.

Jean-Eric Vergne became the first retiree of the race on lap 26, parking the car in the garage. It is the third ‘DNF’ (did not finish) for the Toro Rosso driver this season.

The second round of stops came on lap 33, exactly half way through the Grand Prix. Vettel would stop for medium tyres, rejoining the race back down in P14, where he found himself after lap 1 of the race. Nico Rosberg had also used more fuel than Hamilton at the halfway mark, really pushing the 100kg limit available to each car during a race.

Kamui Kobayashi pulled into the Caterham team garage a few laps over the halfway mark after running wide with a brake issue. The team would retire the car a lap later, making Kobayashi the second retirement of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton took his third stop of the afternoon on lap 44, a lap later than the team had originally called for. The stop was again slower than usual, but nothing drastic enough to stop Hamilton from the race in second place, just under 20 seconds behind then first placed Nico Rosberg. Rosberg stopped two laps later, leaving Hamilton to once more take the lead of the race going into the final 20 laps, 4.990 seconds ahead of his teammate.

With the exception of some minor overtaking moves throughout the field, the remaining laps of the race had very little action as all eyes were on race leader Lewis Hamilton as Nico Rosberg closed the gap to just over two seconds with 14 laps remaining. Fernando Alonso would pit for the third time for Ferrari on lap 54 after looking to be on just a two stop strategy for the afternoon. Alonso would rejoin the race just 1.6 seconds behind sixth placed Sebastian Vettel. Vettel quickly overtook fifth placed Kimi Raikkonen though, leaving Alonso to battle his Ferrari teammate for sixth place.

The gap between Hamilton and Rosberg was down to just 1.1 seconds with 8 laps to go, putting Rosberg within DRS range of Hamilton and leaving an exciting finish to an otherwise duller race compared to those previously on the 2014 calendar.

The closing 5 laps did provide some excitement with in-team battles going on. Alonso was racing Raikkonen whilst Rosberg continued to chase Hamilton for the lead. Bottas was also caught defending fourth place from the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. Eventually Alonso made it past Raikkonen for sixth place whilst Vettel got past Bottas for fourth.

Ultimately, despite getting to within 0.5 seconds of Hamilton and within the DRS activation zone, Rosberg was unable to get close enough to pass Hamilton, and Hamilton would take the chequered flag for the race win with Rosberg just behind in second place. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo placed third with his teammate Sebastian Vettel in fourth. Vettel also took the fastest lap of the race.

Williams Racing and Valtteri Bottas finish in fifth place whilst Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and teammate Kimi Raikkonen crossed the line sixth and seventh respectively. Grosjean, Perez and Hulkenberg made up the final of the top 10.

Lewis Hamilton now leads the Drivers’ World Championship for the first time in 2014 with 100 points, 3 points ahead of second placed Nico Rosberg whilst Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso sits in third with just 49 points. Mercedes lead the Constructors’ Championship by an impressive 197 points; a gap of 113 points stands between themselves and second placed Red Bull Racing.

The Formula 1 calendar resumes two weeks from now on the weekend of May 22 – 25 for the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2014.