Spanish Grand Prix - What a race!

Finally after waiting for 4 races, the real Nico Rosberg has emerged! Finally some real fight from the German. After a brilliant drive to claim pole, he managed to go 100% and snatch the win easily in the end.

The race did come with some ups and downs though. It was all on from the 5 red lights when Vettel jumped Hamilton into Turn 1, and went straight into second. Then we saw Pastor Maldonado climb all the way from 12th, and make a series of (believe this) brilliant overtakes to look good in P7, before his he had problems with his rear wing, an ultimately had to retire. We all thought Toro Rosso were in the boxseat for some big points I Catalunya, but sadly the setup they had ran with had a big compromise of straight line speed for cornering ability. This meant both Sainz and Verstappen were ultimately robbed of points chances with the dangerously strong DRS zone on the start/finish straight, it was disappointing to see. Later on into the race, every Brit spilt there cup of tea when that rear left tire change didn't go according to plan for Lewis Hamilton, costing him valuable time to Sebastian Vettel ahead. It didn't matter too much or Vettel though as during the second round of pit stops, Ferrari made one the most silliest pit stop choices ever, and tried to get Vettel on a two stop, when a three stop was much quicker. This choice of strategy was risky, and really didn't pay off with a massive gap to Hamilton when Vettel finished in third. Rosberg lead the race comfortably through out, and we could see Lewis wasn't going to catch him towards the end of the race. So the focus went to the battle for fourth, the two Finns, Valtteri Bottas for Williams, being chased by Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari. Raikkonen choose the two stop strategy running with the primes in the middle stint, to have an attack on the options in the last stint, however as he closed onto the Williams, Bottas kept his cool and didn't miss many apex's, and with Kimi's tires starting to go off it was a brilliant display from Valtteri, and he earned Williams a solid fourth place.

One of the more shocking moments came when Fernando Alonso was coming into the pits for a stop, when his brakes failed, and he nearly ran down his front jack man, but thanks to the jack mans quick reactions to get out of the way, no one was hurt. A the commentator's talked about it, Lotus's Romain Grosjean came into the pits and did the same thing! This time his jack man was flung with the jack in hand, but he managed to land all fine, and keep the car jacked up, only making the pit stop a bit longer. He was later seen sitting in the garage with some ice on his nuts.

Overall a great race to watch an enjoy, and I'm pleased for Nico Rosberg that he is back in the fight! With the gap only 20 points now, hopefully Monaco can bring more good luck for Rosberg, perhaps reverse the roles of Singapore 2014?

Spanish Grand Prix - Qualifying analysis

Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix has been completed and it certainly had a different nature to it then the first four races of the season. As Catalunya being a naturally difficult circuit to balance the car around, it would be tough for everyone.

Carlos Sainz Jr driving for Toro Rosso.

As we headed into Q1 we saw the likes of Force India and McLaren straight onto the medium tires as well as Kimi Raikkonen later on in the session. The back row of the grid is again locked out by the two Marussia cars. It was a good day for Will Stevens as he managed to out qualify his team mate Roberto Merhi again, and they line up 19th and 20th. A disappointing session for Force India as Perez lines up 18th and Hulkenberg 17th. Hulkenberg went out earlier in the session, and didn't have time for another run towards the end, compromising him. It's the first time Force India have had both cars out in Q1 since Abu Dhabi 2009. The last spot in Q1 went to the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson.

Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull looks on.

Q2 began and the likes of both McLaren's were through, leapfrogging there main rivals Force India. As the session ended 15th spot was occupied by the other Sauber of Felipe Nasr. Disappointing for the team, with both cars lower than expected and meaning that McLaren had jumped them as well. They had wound up 14th and 13th with Fernando Alonso just getting ahead of his team mate by just under a tenth. The last two spots went to the Lotus drivers with Romain Grosjean again being ahead of his team mate Maldonado. Lotus were fairly happy considering a very bumpy and stressful weekend so far.

Valtteri Bottas of Williams, starting from 4th means he is in real contention for some serious points.

Q3 now rolled around, and it was again between Rosberg and Hamilton. There were also both Ferrari's, Toro Rosso's, Red Bull's and Williams all fighting for the top spot. As the flag dropped it was Daniel Ricciardo who found himself in 10th place, which for me was quite surprising. A disappointing session for Felipe Massa found him in 9th. Perhaps Kvyat going to Red Bull might be coming right now, as he drove brilliantly to get an 8th place grid slot, out performing his team mate in the process. Next in 7th after extremely disappointing qualifying, we find the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, I hope he can put a stunning drive on Sunday and recover some points. Another blistering session from the Toro Rosso team as Carlos Sainz out drove his team mate Verstappen for 5th and 6th places, both ahead of the sister team, Red Bull. 4th place went to Valtteri Bottas who has been a little bit quiet so far, but he drove brilliantly, and finished ahead of his team mate Massa. 3rd was the place of Sebastian Vettel and his Ferrari, as he had an average day at the office. Now this is where the shocks come, finally an answer to Hamilton's reign, Nico Rosberg put in blistering lap times to take Pole Position over his team mate by a full three tenths. Finally some fight from Nico is great to see. Mercedes achieved their third 1-2 start at Catalunya in a row.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes, the pole sitter

It was a throughly enjoyable session and finally great to see Nico putting a true fight to Hamilton, I cannot wait for race day!

2015 Spanish Grand Prix - FP1 and FP2 Analysis

After the Friday practice sessions of the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix, the current timings a lot different to that of Bahrain. Mercedes topped both sessions, with Hamilton and Rosberg one a piece. Vettel and Raikkonen were third and fourth in FP1, but Vettel split the Mercedes in FP2 with the 2nd fastest time.

Kimi Raikkonen crosses the line for Ferrari, he finished 4th in both FP1 and FP2.

The first practice session included the use of three reserve drivers. These were Jolyon Palmer for Romain Grosjean at Lotus. Raffaele Marciello for Marcus Ericsson at Sauber. And forty years after a woman last scored points in Formula One at Spain, we saw Susie Wolff replacing Valtteri Bottas at Williams. There were no major crashes during FP1, and the yellow flags were only waved a couple of times for a few spins on track. The session finished with Nico Rosberg leading Lewis Hamilton by seven hundredths of a second. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen followed them with three hundredths separating the two Ferrari's. FP1 went extremely well for Toro Rosso with them finishing with Sainz in 5th and Verstappen 6th. Daniil Kvyat was next in 7th, provided a better look for Red Bull with his team mate Ricciardo finished 9th after problems with his car earlier in the session. Massa had a mediocre day for Williams in 8th, and Susie Wolff was relatively disappointing with 14th. The ever improving Felipe Nasr was in 10th as Sauber's reserve driver Raffaele Marciello finished in 12th. Nico Hulkenberg managed a good lap for Force India and finished in 11th with Perez down the order in 17th. Lotus's reserve driver Jolyon Palmer finished ahead of the first driver Pastor Maldonado in 13th, with Maldonado in 18th. McLaren who had been rumored to be turning things up in Spain moved a little bit, but not a lot with Alonso in 15th and Button in 16th. Will Stevens had a victory over his team mate Roberto Merhi at Marussia, finishing 19th and 20th. The timings from FP1 are below:

1. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes - 1m 26.828s
2. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes - 1m 26.898s
3. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari - 1m 27.806s
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari - 1m 27.832s
5. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault - 1m 28.132s
6. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault - 1m 28.529s
7. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault - 1m 28.785s
8. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes - 1m 28.831s
9. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault - 1m 29.075s
10. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari - 1m 29.140s
11. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes - 1m 29.409s
12. Raffaele Marciello ITA Sauber-Ferrari - 1m 29.630s
13. Jolyon Palmer GBR Lotus-Mercedes - 1m 29.676s
14. Susie Wolff GBR Williams-Mercedes - 1m 29.708s
15. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda - 1m 29.813s
16. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda - 1m 29.817s
17. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes - 1m 30.096s
18. Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes - 1m 30.110s
19. Will Stevens GBR Manor Marussia-Ferrari - 1m 32.471s
20. Roberto Merhi ESP Manor Marussia-Ferrari - 1m 32.647s

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, who finished 2nd and 1st respectively in FP1 and FP2.

The second practice session was a little different. I unfortunately forgot to record this session and so couldn't watch it, but I can report on the timings. Again Mercedes finished top but swapped there drivers around with Hamilton finishing 1st, and Rosberg not quite matching Hamilton finishing in 3rd. A better round for Sebastian Vettel as he finally got closer to the back of the Mercedes splitting the two drivers and finishing 2nd. Kimi Raikkonen had a similar performance from FP1 and finished 4th. Daniil Kvyat finally began to show why he was given the seat at Red Bull finishing 5th, taking full advantage of Williams being off the pace. His team mate Ricciardo finished a low down 13th. Toro Rosso had another good session with Verstappen 6th and Sainz 9th. McLaren finally began to come back with Jenson Button finished in 7th place, and Fernando Alonso in 11th. Valtteri Bottas kept Williams in the fight with 8th and Massa was average with a 10th place. Lotus had Romain Grosjean back in the car for FP2 and he managed a 12th whilst Maldonado sort of improved with 14th place. A disappointing session for Sauber with 15th and 16th, and an even worse session for Force India with Hulkenberg ahead of Perez in 18th and 19th. Will Stevens made it two from two over team mate Roberto Merhi finished 19th and 20th. The timings from FP2 are below:

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes -1m 26.852s
2. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari - 1m 27.260s
3. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes - 1m 27.616s
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari - 1m 27.780s
5. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault - 1m 27.943s
6. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault - 1m 28.017s
7. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda - 1m 28.494s
8. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes - 1m 28.525s #
9. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault - 1m 28.674s
10. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes - 1m 28.712s
11. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda - 1m 28.723s
12. Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes - 1m 29.086s #
13. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault - 1m 29.098s
14. Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes - 1m 29.217s
15. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari - 1m 29.333s
16. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari - 1m 29.361s #
17. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes - 1m 29.601s
18. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes - 1m 29.707s
19. Will Stevens GBR Manor Marussia-Ferrari - 1m 31.929s
20. Roberto Merhi ESP Manor Marussia-Ferrari - 1m 32.751s 

"#" means the driver didn't compete in FP1, and this was there first session.

Jenson Button driving his McLaren. He finished 16th and 7th respectively in FP1 and FP2.

Overall a different day in Formula One, and I think FP3 and Qualifying should be very interesting, will McLaren leapfrog up the field? Will Williams get back some pace? or will the Toro Rosso's finish ahead of there parent team Red Bull? We don't know, but I'll be telling you all about those sessions tommorow, and you can follow me live tweeting during FP3 here: https://twitter.com/stevewalts