Formula One 2015 Spanish GP: Pole to flag win for Rosberg

The Circuit de Catalunya has long been a test track for Formula One. Its long stretches and flowing corners easily bring out the best and the worst in the car. The majority of, if not all, drivers know this circuit by heart. History has shown that whoever gets pole, wins 18 out of 24 times, and 22 out of 24, times the winner starts on the front row.

Practice sessions saw Mercedes lead all the time sheets except for one. It was only when Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel sneaked in a lap worth P2 during free practice two that the Mercedes boys failed to lock out the front row.

Saturday qualifying saw a familiar pair topping the time sheets, but this time, it was Nico Rosberg edging out Lewis Hamilton for P1. Hamilton’s run of four consecutive poles was cut by Rosberg claiming his first of the year. P3 saw Vettel in his Ferrari followed by Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. The surprise of the session was that the Toro Rossos locked out the third row. This was their best qualifying to date. Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen was 5th and 6th respectivelly. Kimi Raikkonen slotted in at P7 while Daniil Kvyat, Felipe Massa, and Daniel Ricciardo rounded up the top 10.

As the cars lined up to take the grid on Sunday, the track temperature topped 44 degrees Celcius. This is what fans of the Scuderia were anticipating. Seemingly the Ferrari fares better in warmer temperatures than in cooler ones, and with Vettel lining up in the second row, another Ferrari win was surely not far off.

At the start, Rosberg made a clean getaway, as did Vettel who took second place way before the first corner. Hamilton got off the line very slowly, with uncharacteristic excessive wheelspin being the culprit. Bottas maintianed his hold on 4th, while Max Verstappen jumped his teammate to take 5th. All the cars funneled into turn 1 without a major incident, but one can tell that the cars in the mid-field were eager to get up a place or two.

It didn’t take long for Kimi to overtake both the Toro Rossos. Raikkonen vaulted past Verstappen and Sainz Jr. on lap 2. Felipe Massa, who started near the bottom of the top 10, made his move to take Sainz Jr. on the following lap to take P7.

Out in front, Nico Rosberg went about stretching out a lead of about 2.2 seconds from Vettel, with Hamilton another 1.1 seconds adrift of the Ferrari. It seemed that Ferrari did make a huge jump in performance, as evidenced by the pace of both Sebastian and Kimi. But Mercedes still had the upper hand. Lewis was hounding Vettel to no end. Hamilton was right at the rear wing of the four-time champ and was not worrying about the dirty air being spewn out by the Ferrari. Meanwhile, Nico kept on setting fast sector times.

Lap 14 saw Mercedes call in Hamilton to the pits for a change of tires. A slight trouble with the rear tire saw the Brit have a long stop, causing him to come out behind the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado. With fresher tires, Lewis disposed of the Venezuelan easily. Ferrari responded by calling in Vettel a lap later. A quick turnaround saw Sebastian come out ahead of Lewis and even extend his lead. Out in front, Nico was cruising. There was no challenge from anyone. Rosberg pitted for tires to hand over the lead temporarily to Kimi, who, like Sebastian, was on a two-stop strategy.

A call to the Mercedes garage came from Hamilton, asking for another strategy. Instead of the two stops initially planned, Lewis was now to make good on the three stop strategy. This would enable him to jump past Vettel in the coming laps. Lewis kept hounding Vettel in the succeeding laps, trying in vain to sneak past the Ferrari in various parts of the circuit. Unfortunately for Lewis, Sebastian was not going to give it on a silver platter. The Ferrari held off the Mercedes. Lewis had his work cut out if he was to get past the four time champ.

Lap 33 saw Mercedes bring in Lewis for another set of tires. This time he had a cleaner stop, and came out just behind Kimi, but with the tire degradation on the Ferrari, Lewis passed the Finn with ease, and went about the job of hunting Vettel. Hamilton kept pounding in fast lap times one after the other, but Ferrari were not mindful of his fast times. They believed, and rightfully so, that Lewis was on a three stopper, unlike Vettel and Nico who were on a two-stop strategy.

Lap 41, and a call to pit was made to Vettel, and like in the previous pit stop, he had a quick turnaround. This promoted Lewis to P2 behind his teammate, and Hamilton just kept his foot down to record fast sector times. If Hamilton could make his tires last to the end of the race, he could well take the fight to Nico for P1 before lap 66.

Meanwhile, Kimi was hounding Bottas while keeping Massa at bay. Raikkonen was driving like a man on a mission, finding his love for racing that he lost a few years ago. Ferrari did make an improvement but unfortunately for them so did Mercedes. As Lewis came in for his third stop on lap 51, Ferrari saw their challenge slowly disappear. Lewis came out in P2, ahead of Vettel. Out on front Nico was getting the job done, pounding in fast times just to keep Hamilton, or any challengers at bay.

Nico Rosberg crossed the line 17 seconds ahead of Hamilton, and 45 seconds to Vettel, while Bottas, who crossed the line in P4, just had enough in his bag of tricks to keep his fellow Finn behind.

It was another 1-2 for Mercedes, with Rosberg taking his first win for 2015 in Spain. He wasn’t challenged by anyone. The race was all his, a clear pole to flag victory. Nico now heads to his home race in Monaco in a few weeks time. Rosberg is just 20 points adrift of championship standings leader Hamilton, with Vettel a further 31 points behind Lewis.

The crown jewel in the Formula One calendar is set for May 24, 2015. This track is known for its tight and slow corners plus the perceived lack of overtaking possibilities, making it paramount to get a good qualifying run on Saturday. Will it be Mercedes again topping the time sheets or will Ferrari or even Williams have something to say come the Monaco GP weekend?