Lewis Hamilton held off a last minute challenge from Nico Rosberg to snatch victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, making his fourth consecutive victory after five races. Having led most of the distance of the race, Rosberg’s race strategy which gave him a better advantage, managed to get him closer to Hamilton, almost prompting a close dogfight similar to hwat happened in Bahrain. After being robbed of the podium in Australia, Daniel Ricciardo completed the race in the final podium position, marking his first ever podium finish of his F1 career. The other Red Bull Racing of Sebastian Vettel meanwhile fought a superb comeback from 15th to fourth.
Disappointment was felt among the local Spanish fans as local favourite, Fernando Alonso, couldn’t do much with his Ferrari, where at most he battled with his own team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen out of the top five. With three laps remaining, Alonso’s fresher tyres gave him better pace allowing him to pass the Finn for sixth place. Needless to say, Ferrari needs more work on their cars knowing their cars were outpaced by the Mercedes.
Romain Grosjean’s eighth position finish bought first point of the season for the struggling Lotus. Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten as McLaren failed to score a point for the third consecutive race.
The next race moves to the legendary Monaco in a fortnight’s time.
Race results – 2014 Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix
Pos. Driver Team Time
1. L. Hamilton Mercedes 1:41:05.155
2. N. Rosberg Mercedes +0.636
3. D. Ricciardo Red Bull +49.014 +48.378
4. S. Vettel Red Bull +76.702 +27.688
5. V. Bottas Williams +79.293 +2.591
6. F. Alonso Ferrari +87.743 +8.450
7. K. Raikkonen Ferrari +1 Lap
8. R. Grosjean Lotus +1 Lap
9. S. Perez Force India +1 Lap
10. N. Hulkenberg Force India +1 Lap
11. J. Button McLaren +1 Lap
12. K. Magnussen McLaren +1 Lap
13. F. Massa Williams +1 Lap
14. D. Kvyat Toro Rosso +1 Lap
15. P. Maldonado Lotus +1 Lap
16. E. Gutiérrez Sauber +1 Lap
17. A. Sutil Sauber +1 Lap
18. J. Bianchi Marussia +2 Laps
19. M. Chilton Marussia +2 Laps
20. M. Ericsson Caterham +2 Laps
Did not finish
21. K. Kobayashi Caterham +32 Laps
22. J. Vergne Toro Rosso +42 Laps
[Image Source: AMG Mercedes Petronas]
