Race 4 - Spanish GP

 Boy have I chosen the worst personal year in the recent past to have a hobby blog! What is the opposite of serendipity? 

Anyway - The Spanish Grand Prix! I always have a bias towards this one every year because Barcelona is one of my favourite cities on Earth, and I hate that people always poo-poo this circuit (even though I know why and maybe agree with them often enough. No, I didn't say that. You cannot make me admit it!).

And I am so happy that the race wasn't boring! 

Now, I am going to be biased here again, because the race was probably the most boring one of this year to many people. But I love me a strategy tussle! (Guess who is studying strategic management right now. This guy.) And so Lewis Hamilton diving into the pits for a second time was probably one of the most exciting moments of the year so far! 

But before all of that - One Hundred Poles for Sir Lewis Hamilton. My brain struggled to comprehend this number, honestly speaking. I knew it was coming and it still left me speechless. I think it had a similar effect on Lewis as well - he looked absolutely delighted! To try and put that into perspective, it was Max Verstappen's hundredth race as a Red Bull driver. I mean really. 

Other winners and losers in quali. Charlie Leclerc in P4, Esteban Ocon in P5, Carlos Sainz in P6, Daniel Ricciardo in P7 - happy for the lot of them. Ferrari is definitely back to the battle at the front of the midfield and the first three races were not flukes. Barcelona is a good track to confirm these things, and this is why it makes me a little concerned to see Lando Norris qualifying at the back of the top 10, as well as the two Aston Martins out in Q2, who were definitely among the losers. I would add Sergio Perez to the list as well if not for reports of him being unwell on Saturday. (Did I hope for an opportunity for Alex? I did. I apologize, Checo, and I am glad you recovered fast, I really am.)

And so we headed to the race, with below normal expectations really. The start was quite exciting, with Max getting a superb start and a jump on Lewis right away, as did Charles on Valtteri. Much lower down the order Kimi had a superb start as well with 3 places gained - the most on the grid, but the driver I cheered for the most was of course Mick Schumacher, who gained 2 places, passing George and Yuki by the time the positions table came up at Turn 10. Did we get to see it though? Of course not. Sigh.

Some interesting strategies at Williams this race as well, which almost, almost worked - they would be wishing the race had been just a few laps shorter. And speaking of strategy, Kimi Raikkonen had such a different strategy to the entire grid as well, and he was running P5 as a result for a while before moving down the grid again too. Lewis Hamilton with the surprise strategy attack of course beat all of them. Red bull inheriting the Mercedes engineers when they actually needed to get their strategists! It was quite unimaginative from the red bull team in the face of the Mercedes efforts. I couldn't believe that the commentators, after Max and Lewis's first pitstops, kept wondering why Lewis is going so much faster than Max without once guessing he might be going for a second pitstop! Hilarious.

For a track known for being anti-overtaking, there sure were a lot of battles in the race. There was a saucy battle between Fernando and Lance after the safety car restart, and heartening to see Lance holding his own against Fernando. There was a nice Vettel/Giovinazzi/Gasly moment in a part of the track that doesn't often see action. Carlando fans had a thrilling moment as well when Carlos and Lando had a brief tussle there, as did Checo and Daniel. There was a longer Ocon/Daniel/Carlos tussle after that, which we didn't get to see hair or hide of. If people found this race boring, I fully blame the broadcast screenplay. Basically, we saw entertaining moves from almost all of the grid, right up till the last lap for the last points position! 

And then there was the battle at the front - Lewis vs Max. Lewis followed so close to Max for most of the race miraculously without the turbulent seeming to have much of an effect on him. Max has come a long, long way as a driver, but I'm sorry Max, there is one single driver who is still an overall better driver than you right now. Five Spanish GPs in a row. Damn, son. Although, to quote Martin Brundle, thank god for Max Verstappen, for giving us these battles! A special mention for Valtteri Bottas for bravely trying to hold on to his position from a charging Lewis Hamilton. He didn't stand much of a chance of course, but he took his fair share of clean air while he could.

The Alpines showed a lot of promise in qualifying but they just didn't have enough race pace to keep up with the Ferraris and the McLarens. The Ferrari vs. McLaren battle got a bit closer this week, with Lando faring surprisingly poor compared to the season so far. Daniel on the other hand had a much better race, and he held off Carlos for the last third of the race to get a couple extra points. The midfield battle is on, even as at the front Mercedes and Lewis are pulling away already. Pierre did well to recover after his silly penalty at the start of the race, yet again leaving us wanting more performance against potential from him and the Alpha. Both Lance and Seb had some good battles out there for Aston Martin but lost out on points - the first time in 12 years that Seb hasn't scored in Barcelona. 

All in all, a super race! Next round is of course Monaco, a race that I look forward to and dread in equal parts. Will Charles finally break the Monaco curse? Will Max finally stop the Hamilton train, or will Lewis get that much closer to his hundredth(!) win? Which of the incoming drivers will get closest to their potential? And will racing busses around the track in the simulator over the break help Lando get an edge over the rest of the midfield? Will I ever stick to a fixed format for race reviews?

The season remains tantalizingly close, I can't wait to find out how it unfolds. Until next time - Au revoir!