Round four took place at the most familiar and best-known track of the F1 calendar -circuit de Catalunya, Spain. The past eight GP weekends in Barcelona have been dominated by Mercedes, as Hamilton has started to the race from the front row in every single race since 2013. Qualifying has always played a major role here; 22 out of 30 races have been won by the pole-setter. On the contrary, only three races have been won by a driver, who has started to the race outside of the front row. One of those rare cases happened back in 2016, when Verstappen drove his very first race for Red Bull and won, having started to the race from P4.
Tyre strategy didn't play any role at Barcelona, as all drivers opted for the soft compound in Q2. Verstappen's pace seemed breathtaking, as the Dutchman went on top by almost half a second. He was followed by the Mercedes duo, with Bottas having the upper hand on his teammate. Norris in his McLaren kept shining, being fourth fastest. It was delightful to see, that both Ferrari aces made it easily among the top ten.
The shootout for pole came down to extremely small margins. Hamilton set the benchmark on his first run, but arch rival Verstappen was only 0.036s down on the championship leader. Bottas was third, a bit over a tenth off the pace. Ocon in his Alpine was a surprise fourth, and Sainz in fifth seemed to be out-performing teammate Charles. Against all odds, there was no improvement on the final flyers in terms of the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers, which made the final segment a bit of an anticlimax. Hamilton took his epic 100th pole position! Verstappen completed the front row for Red Bull, with Bottas in familiar third place. Charles was the only driver to improve his lap time in the end, making his way up to P4 and taking the upper hand on his teammate. Alpine's Ocon and Sainz in the sister Ferrari locked down the third row. Red Bull would have needed Perez to perform on a higher level, but the Mexican was left in P8, alongside McLaren's Ricciardo.
The tyre choice for the race couldn't have been any more unanimous; all drivers except for Alfa Romeo's Räikkönen were to start to the race on the red-walled soft rubber. The start was absolutely electrifying. Pole-setter Hamilton accelerated into the lead, but Verstappen attacked him aggressively, going into Turn 1. Max made it side by side with the Briton, squeezing him ahead of Hamilton. Contact between the two was nearly missed, and Verstappen was now leading the race. Meanwhile, going into long Turn 3, Ferrari's Leclerc managed to pass Bottas in the sister Mercedes, moving up to third.
Safety car was deployed on lap 8, as Tsunoda's AlphaTauri was hit with an engine issue, stopping on the track. The pack was tightly packed again, as the safety car came in only a couple of laps later. Race leader Verstappen took a strong restart, and the Dutchman's lead was never jeopardised. Leclerc in third came near to challenge Hamilton for the second place. Bottas, on the other hand, proved unable to attack Charles at the restart.
Mercedes opened the pit stop roulette in terms of the top teams. The championship-leading team called Bottas in on lap 24. Everything went as planned, and the Finn rejoined the track on a fresh set of medium tyres in P6. Red Bull had to react to Mercedes' strategy, and Verstappen was called in right away. Verstappen's 4.2-second stop was unexpectedly slow, as the energy drink team is known for their wind-fast pit stops.
Bottas showed top performance on the medium Pirellis, and on lap 27 the Finn stormed past Charles, who hadn't pitted yet. Both Charles and Hamilton pitted on lap 29, both for the medium compound. The Briton rejoined the track ahead of his teammate, but the duo was separated by 1.5 seconds only. Charles, on the other hand, rejoined the track behind Bottas, which was excellent news for the Finn. Ex Ferrari ace Kimi, who had been the only driver to start to the race on the medium tyres, had climbed up to P5 during the pit stop roulette. However, after being overtaken by several drivers, the Iceman pitted on lap 38, for a fresh set of soft tyres. Unfortunately the pit stop dropped the Iceman down to P17.
It was utterly surprising to see Hamilton pit from the lead on lap 42. The Briton opted for another set of medium Pirellis, and rejoined the track in P3. Now the ball was in Red Bull's hands -how would they react? Would Verstappen be able to go till the end on his tyres? The tension really started to intensify. The Briton banged the fastest lap time, and the gap to Verstappen was 20 seconds, with some 20 laps to go.
In only a few laps Hamilton had hunted down his teammate, who was told on the team radio not to hold back his teammate. It was obvious, that the Finn wouldn't have wanted to obey, and Valtteri definitely didn't make it easy for Lewis to make the move on him. The gap to leading Verstappen was now 11 seconds. Bottas, too was called in for a second time, which made Charles again move ahead of the Finn. Bottas' pace was convincing, and he made the screens purple, setting the new fastest lap time. In a couple of laps Bottas had made it within striking distance from the Monegasque. He knew his chance on the start/finish straight and attacked Charles with the help of DRS, going into Turn 1. Bottas moved ahead and increased the gap to Charles into two seconds immediately.
It was actually frightening, how quickly Hamilton decreased the gap to Verstappen, sector by sector. With six laps to go, the Briton had made it right at the tail of Max's RB16B, smelling the flying Dutchman's blood. Max proved powerless to defend his position on his out-worn tyres, which made Hamilton's overtaking move look easy. This was the decisive moment in terms of the race result. After taking the lead, there was no stopping the reigning world champion. After being overtaken, Verstappen pitted for a fresh set of soft Pirellis, as his second place was secured.
Hamilton cruised to the chequered flag as the race winner and the Driver of the Day. This was the fifth consecutive victory at Circuit de Catalunya for the invincible Briton. Verstappen fought like a lion, but he had no choice but to settle for playing the second fiddle on the Spa ish soil. Bottas made it on the lowest step of the podium, which unfortunately seems to be the maximum for the Finn at the moment. Ferrari had a successful day in the office, as both drivers finished in the points. Charles brought the team 12 points by finishing fourth, whilst teammate Carlos brought four points by finishing in P7. Perez's performance in the sister Red Bull left a lot to hope for, as the Mexican's P5 left teammate Verstappen fight alone against two Mercedes. McLaren, too had a double points finish, as Ricciardo finished 6th and teammate Norris 8th.
After Portimao's disappointment, Verstappen took the extra point for the fastest lap time under his belt. Nevertheless, Hamilton extended his lead into 14 points in the drivers' standings. Norris in third is 42 points down on his fellow countryman already. Bottas in fourth has less than half of the points compared to his teammate! Mercedes now have 101 points to Red Bull's 83. McLaren in third have 53 points and Ferrari in fourth have 42.
The next round up will be legendary Monaco! Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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