On the basis of today I think we should forbid Mercedes from making any more updates until at least 2020, being consistently a second clear of whoever dares to challenge them. It is the crushing domination that we saw from Red Bull and Vettel for the past four years turned up to 11. However this particular battle does bring with it a very interesting team dynamic, one which has lead to some questionable gazes on the podium and some very tense post-session press conferences. All starting with the gargantuan battle the pair had in Bahrain, neither driver likes to finish behind the other - because in all essence they both know that whichever one comes out on top will likely walk home with the title. You didn't get this level intensity simmering below the surface when Vettel and Webber were the lead contenders - their conflicts were well and truly out in the open.
There was a hope, a vague desire to see the field close up when the European season began this weekend, and in some respects it did - if we exclude the Mercedes team - a little over six tenths covered 10 cars in the middle part of qualifying. Which does prove that it is the mid-field teams with the bigger financial restrictions and fewer resources that this race means a lot more to. Because they can't develop parts as fast and then afford to ship them to the other side of the world to keep up the development race in Australasia and the Middle East. To summarise the level of monetary strife, we learned this weekend that Renault haven't been paid by at least one of their customer teams for their engine supply... in the paddock the waving finger of accusation seems to be pointing at Lotus. They should ask Pastor to check down the back of his sponsorship sofa and see if he has any spare change to help the team out, although he might have some other repair bills to pay today. On a different note, I'd noticed that viewer figures have gone up in Spain for the preview post so the blog welcomes the Spanish audience on board for as long as you are around for.
Qualifying
On the basis of the free practice times it once more looked like it was going to be another afternoon where the front row was off limits - booked in advance by the same paring leading the championship. The interest would be how everyone else waged their own personal battles and which teams had made the biggest improvements. Sauber had brought a new lighter car, which Sutil is still too heavy for as he is too tall - and Lotus also planning to make up some lost ground. It was Sauber who took to the track first along with Force India - initially locking out the top four positions. We then saw Pastor Maldondo emerge for Lotus, as the commentators announced the improvements the team have made for this weekend... and Pastor promptly planted the car in the wall on his first lap. Touched the astro-turf on the outside of turn three and span back into the barrier on the other side of the track which naturally brought the session to a temporary stop with a red flag interruption.
When the session restarted we had a Caterham leading a Mercedes in the queue at the bottom of the pit-lane - Tony Fernandes needs to print that image out and pin it to the garage wall - alongside the image of Kobayashi passing Vettel in China. Alas it wasn't to last as Rosberg comfortably destroyed Hulkenberg's time, Hamilton however came very close to bouncing his Mercedes off the fence after running wide on the exit of turn five. Still he recovered to go second, easily. With Maldonado out, there was only room for one more car in the relegation zone alongside the two bottom teams, and that honour fell to Adrian Sutil - struggling with the weight issue means his car is 12kg too heavy and off the pace. Inevitably Sutil was relegated.
Q2
Hulkenberg went out first this time and for a while he was all by himself - until Raikkonen turned up and set the initial pace... only because Mercedes were still in the garage.. for now. When they did emerge a few minutes later they immediately dominated - Rosberg once again took the lead away from Hamilton... let battle commence. A second inter-team battle continuing to play out was the one at Red Bull, where once again Vettel was seeing his Australian team-mate in front once again in the mass of cars staring hopelessly at that deficit to the Mercedes team.
As always it is the race to make it into the top ten that dominates Q2, and that race was a couple of competitors down - firstly Kevin Magnussen had to abandon his McLaren without even leaving the garage due to a mechanical difficulty. Then there was Vergne - who just decided not to run because of a grid penalty he picked up in FP2 due to a wheel falling off the car. So I foresee a penalty point heading in his direction. Aside from the top two things were getting very close including those people on the wrong side of the relegation zone. Towards the end of the session Button and Bottas sneaked into Q3, pushing Alonso dangerously close to relegation in 9th place. He was then demoted further - to tenth when Grosjean moved up. Luckily for Fernando neither of the Force India drivers could find the half a tenth they needed to displace the Ferrari driver as the session came to a close.
Q3
Only ten cars remained in the final session, and this time - very ominously Mercedes headed out first with intent. However as Hamilton powered up for his first qualifying lap he encountered a wayward Red Bull in the middle of the first chicane. That Red Bull belonged to Sebastian Vettel who was having more technical difficulties and was forced to park the car on the entrance to turn three. I can imagine that excessive smile on Riccardo's face grew even wider as his position in the team continually gets better at the German Blokes misfortune. What the resulting Red flag did was cancel out Mercedes first lap and effectively reset the session with seven minute remaining.
On the restart Mercedes decided they didn't need to refit the tyre and ran using the ones that had complete half a racing lap already. Not that it mattered too much they were still fastest, although for the first time today Hamilton was first. Even more surprising was that Ricciardo was only a tenth slower than Rosberg - didn't expect anyone to be that close to a Mercedes... but they had more in store.
In the second runs Raikkonen scored a little victory in out-qualifying Alonso who said to the media earlier in the week that he was used to racing with slower team-mates. But there was a bigger surprise as Valtteri Bottas put the Williams into fourth place - another impressive run. Yet the main interest was on the battle for the lead - Rosberg was now on new tyres and pulled almost a second over the rest over the field... so much for anyone being within a tenth or so. Then Hamilton arrived and against the run of form that he'd been having today stole pole position away from Rosberg and cue another awkward press conference....
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
Here are the winners from todays qualifying session
- 10pts - Valtteri Bottas - In a weekend where the teams with stronger downforce packages have a pace advantage putting the Williams 4th is impressive
- 8pts - Romain Grosjean - 5th place in a car which didn't even make it to Jerez and for a team with huge financial problems is a very good job
- 6pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Out qualifying Alonso on home turf deserves some points
- 5pts - Nico Rosberg - So close to spoiling Hamilton's run of constant domination
- 4pts - Max Chilton - Qualifies as the fastest of all the bottom teams which is very impressive
- 3pts - Lewis Hamilton - Did get pole, but gets points for keeping it out of the wall at the start of Q1
- 2pts - Johnny Checotto - Did a whole GP2 race without hitting anyone and took victory
- 1pt - Simon Belcher - A retrospective bonus point scored for barrel rolling through a forest at Thruxton and simply walking away like a hero
The Penalty Points Championship
Only one penalty point to be issued, and that goes to Jean-Eric Vergne for not taking part in Q2 when it would be entirely possible for Vergne to start higher than last place by trying to set a time.
Looking to Tomorrow
Well the Spanish GP isn't known for being a relentless action packed sprint - it does tend to be more strategic than anything else. But this time around Pirelli have gone conservative on the tyre selection for this weekend because it is traditionally a race for high tyre wear. But who knows, we might be in for a surprise - where the battle for the lead might be another in house conflict in the Mercedes team, one worth looking forward too.
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