Race day in Barcelona brought with it two things – beautiful weather and Verstappen-mania.
Seriously, there was more orange in the Circuit de Catalunya grandstands than on the women at a bodybuilding competition. All eyes were on the 19-year-old to somehow repeat his miraculous victory from last year – boy, were they set up for disappointment.
Out on the first lap, the last domino in a chain set off by Valtteri Bottas, this was not his day. No, this particular Spanish Grand Prix belonged to Lewis Hamilton, who despite his sub-par start managed to take the win with an ambitious tyre strategy that unlike his haircut, he was able to pull off.
And while not every Spanish Grand Prix can be quite as dramatic as last year’s, this was far from a dud with the battle out front. There is almost nothing to separate Mercedes and Ferrari, and it’s interesting to see how Sebastian Vettel’s post-race demeanour has gone from “just happy to be here” every time he makes the podium to rueful, if not outright frustrated if he doesn’t win.
What’s more is that while the cars have been even, and the drivers have been even, today showed us their development is equally apace, and that makes for an increasingly fascinating championship.
On a related note, after years of animosity between championship contenders, the dynamic between Vettel and Hamilton makes for an abrupt about-face. The way Hamilton quickly let Vettel’s mid-race love-tap go would have never happened had the offending driver been Nico Rosberg.
Even as the two remained in disagreement over its circumstances there was no hint of tension as they sat next to each other in the press conference. If anything, Hamilton seems to relish it – of course whether it lasts with someone as prickly as him remains to be seen.
A few quick hits:
- It’s always a good time watching guilty drivers do the walk of shame back to the paddock, with Sunday being Stoffel Vandoorne’s turn. If there’s one improvement I’d recommend to Liberty Media, it would be to hire the “shame” woman from Game of Thrones to walk behind them.
- Spotted in the paddock on Sunday: Pastor Maldonado, and a giant dancing robot – both are the stuff of nightmares.
- Today’s motorhome lunch review comes courtesy of Red Bull, where I had a rotini pasta with chicken. I give it a 6.5 out of 10. Also I was very disappointed to find they didn’t stock Coca Cola.
- The “crying kid” a.k.a. “Thomas” is already an F1 celebrity – no joke, people were stopping him for photos in the paddock. Expect an ice-cream commercial with him and Kimi Raikkonen in the next four weeks.
Report for GrandPrix247 by Ben Stevens in Barcelona
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