F1 2015 – Spanish Grand Prix

The fifth event of this year 's Formula 1 World Championship brought the carousel to European soil for the very first time. Here, the championship moves traditionally with the Spanish Grand Prix, and it was no different today. The circuit, located near Barcelona , is known for its demands on tires, and it is also very difficult to overtake here.

That's why qualification is important in Spain, just like for example in Monaco, where you will go in two weeks. For the first time this season, Nico Rosberg best dealt with it, when he clearly beat his teammate Lewis Hamilton. There were no surprises behind this pair either – Vettel finished third on Ferrari and Bottas fourth on Williams. The Toro Rosso pair pleasantly surprised with fifth and sixth place in the Sainz-Verstappen order, with Kimi Räikkönen finishing behind them in the second Ferrari. Daniil Kvyat was eighth, Felipe Massa was ninth and Daniel Ricciardo completed the top ten . The third five stood on the grid in the order of Grosjean, Maldonado, Alonso, Button and Nasr, the starting field was then closed by the grouping in the order of Ericsson, Hülkenberg, Pérez, Stevens and Merhi.

The start went great for Nico Rosberg, who quickly got away from all his pursuers . Hamilton could have been a little less satisfied, who managed to spin his wheels, which allowed Sebastian Vettel to literally run past him. The Briton has already kept the rest of the single-seater cars behind him and thus defended his third position. Felipe Massa also had a good start, and was only prevented from taking off by a slight off-track and falling into the second half of the top ten. Kimi Räikkönen quickly got ahead of the two slower Toro Rosso cars. In the second or fourth round, the pair of Sainz and Verstappen had to capitulate to the oncoming Felipe Massa.

The Red Bull junior didn't have a bed of roses at all, as both Lotuses gradually got ahead of Sainz, while Maldonado's managed to rise to seventh place at one point, as did Ricciardo's Red Bull. In addition, he also pushed Verstappen. At the end of the eleventh lap, Daniil Kvyat headed to the pits, but it was not until the end of the thirteenth lap that Hamilton started the regular first series of pit stops, having failed to pass Vettel, so he tried to come up with an alternative strategy. However, Ferrari caught on to this and sent Vettel to the pits the very next lap. It should be noted that the Briton's stop did not go as expected, so the German drove up a little more time than before the pit tracks. On the contrary, Rosberg completed the tire change quite comfortably, followed by Bottas and Räikkönen. The entire top five, with the exception of the Finnish Ferrari pilot, rode on the white marked tires of the softer specification, Räikkönen logically used the harder specification.

The excitement in the middle part of the race was perhaps only provided by Pastor Maldonado , who after one of the fights, the side of the rear wing came loose. The mechanics later simply took it away from him and the Venezuelan continued the race without it. Hamilton failed to overtake Vettel during the middle part, despite several signs, so the team resorted to a completely different strategy than that of Ferrari. At the end of the 32nd lap, Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes pitted, put on a harder specification tire and returned to the track behind Kimi Räikkönen in fourth. This was at the time when home favorite Fernando Alonso had to retire due to brake problems.

To highlight the difference in Hamilton's strategy, we must mention that at the time of his second stop there was still half the race left. Vettel only headed for the second stop at the end of the 41st lap and unsurprisingly had a harder set of tires fitted. At that moment, the pursuit of the British pilot in the Mercedes began, the aim of which was to run as many seconds as possible on Vettel, who was driving in third place behind Hamilton and Rosberg at the time. In the fiftieth circuit, the drivers circled in the order of Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Bottas and Räikkönen. That changed immediately on the approach to the following lap, when the leading driver pitted for the third time and, to the delight of the men on the Mercedes pit wall, was able to clearly overtake Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton, together with Räikkönen, was also the only one of the elite five who was riding on a softer, and therefore faster, tire specification at the time. This fact was already one thing for Maldonado, whose technique betrayed him.

The duel between Bottas and Räikkönen promised to be attractive for the final laps, but except for a few hints in the DRS zone, Willimas was able to keep Ferrari behind him. There wasn't much to deal with at the front either, although at one point it might have seemed that Hamilton wanted to catch up and overtake Rosberg. For the first time ever this year, Nico Rosberg won ahead of Lewis Hamilton , who was not at all happy about it on the podium. Vettel finished third after a good performance, Bottas fourth and Räikkönen fifth. Also worth mentioning is the slight push between Kvyat and Sainz, during which the Spaniard managed to keep ninth place. The next race is in two weeks in the streets of Monte Carlo .

Results of the VC of Spain 2015

Current standings after the fifth of nineteen races – drivers

Current standings after the fifth of nineteen races – teams

Source: formula1.com