Well... what realistically can be said about the events of this afternoon, not that we really had any events to mention. In a way it was only be expected, the race could only have gone one of two ways and neither of those would be in sight of anyone else. Remember when we all thought that winning by 25 seconds or so was the very definition of extreme dominance - what do we call the situation when that advantage is double that in an uninterrupted fight with all the contenders still running. In some respects you have to be impressed with what Mercedes have done and continue to do every race, but the rest of the field, some with huge budgets need to do something to be able to compete with the top team.
The problem today was that the rest of the field were also fairly inactive, spending a lot of time running in team formation - all held back by team communications to drop off and save tyres. We all thought Pirelli were being conservative on the tyre selection, and we didn't see huge performance degradation yet the messages went out. But in the end it probably wouldn't have mattered.
The Race
For some reason even the start seemed laboured, probably because I was a little tired at the time and the fact that the front row eased away in unison gave no impression of a speed differential. As the camera panned out for the long run down to turn on we saw that Bottas had passed Ricciardo for 3rd and Grosjean almost followed him through. Unlike any of the support races the opening lap was contact free - despite it getting very close in the middle of the pack - Vettel's on-board looked very busy. The consequences of a grid penalty brought the Red Bull so close to retirement as he duelled wheel to wheel with the Saubers, it got even closer for Sebastian taking minimal contact from Magnussen after the Dane recovered from an off track excursion.
Of course there was one driver who failed to avoid contact in this opening phase, and that was unsurprisingly Pastor Maldonado - while Grosjean was in the points in 5th place - Pastor was battling with Marcus Ericsson in the Caterham. The Venezuelan barged the Swede out of the way on the exit of the La Caixa hairpin and was handed one of these new pit-stop extension penalties. Despite the shunt, both cars were able to keep going without any incapacitating damage. Maldonado then went on to overtake the next Caterham without causing any more damage in the process.
Within the first 6 laps Mercedes were already ten seconds down the road - Bottas was causing a bit of a bottleneck in third place with some immediate attention from Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo's engineer informed his driver to drop back to a two second gap if he couldn't pass the Williams soon. There was one small problem with that theory... there wasn't two seconds of space for Ricciardo to drop back into because Grosjean was one and half seconds behind the Red Bull. Therefore Ricciardo decided to push and attack Bottas - but the straight line speed advantage anything with a Mercedes engine made it very difficult. After a failed lunge at turn one Ricciardo accepted defeat and conserved tyre instead. The second Red Bull of Vettel back in the pack was starting to make progress once the field had sorted itself out, starting with an impressive pass round the outside of Esteban Gutierrez in turn 10. We also saw Jules Bianchi in the Marussia try an outside pass on Adrian Sutil but ran out of room on the exit.
Just as Vettel approached Jenson Button as the next car in his march forwards he brought the Red Bull into the pits to get out of the traffic - it may be a sensible decision but ultimately a boring one. With that over and done with for now, it was time to look for some action elsewhere... anywhere... well we had the two Ferraris running in formation, and behind them were the two Force India drivers also maintaining position, because in fighting costs tyre performance for little real gain. However all four of these cars were gradually closing in on the Lotus of Romain Grosjean in front, along with Felipe Massa splitting the two pairings. Eventually Raikkonen was able to line up behind the Lotus and it appeared that the Ferrari had such a huge straight line speed advantage and came from nowhere to appear alongside in turn one. But Kimi went in too deep and Romain re-took the place. On the next lap Raikkonen eased past well before turn one, just to make sure. Alonso behind made it look even easier blasting past half way down the main straight,
I suppose it might be worth noting that Hamilton was still out front, and both he and Rosberg were trading messages with the team discussing the gap between the cars. Despite the fact that they are running away with this championship both sides of the garage are trying to beat each other - even if they are not wheel to wheel on track. Trading a tenth or two on one lap and sharing it back on the next maintaining a gap of around four seconds. Hamilton was running the softer compound tyres, while Nico had the harder, slower option - but saved the faster set for when Lewis was forced to run on the harder compound. In theory Hamilton should have more speed having the better tyres, but he was making a lot of complaints about handling to the team. The most revealing being the statement that his 'rear end was all over the place', the less we know about that the better frankly.
As we step away from Lewis and his out of control rear, it was time to see how Vettel was doing in his recovery drive - and it was made marginally easier by Massa pulling into the pits and getting out of the way, just as Button had early in the race. Further back we see Maldonado close on Gutierrez... we all had flashbacks to Bahrain where Pastor flipped the Mexican - this time it was a safe, contact free overtaking manoeuvre... a rarity for Maldonado. Some more pit-stop position shuffling dropped Vettel behind Massa once more, who in turn was behind Alonso, and the whole lot of them were behind Magnussen on older tyres. The McLaren didn't have enough pace to retain the position and was systematically passed by those immediately behind him. Vettel on the freshest of tyres of the group was then able to get past Massa with a stern dive to the inside in turn 4.
Then nothing happened for a while, although in fairness noting had really happened for most of the day, then again even if it did I might have missed it due to being partially asleep at the time - an afternoon up in Northumberland takes it out of you on a Sunday.
At the very front, a threat of a battle was emerging, Hamilton and his uncontrollable rear was being closed down by Rosberg - best to keep that sort of thing in-house really. As Nico was now on the faster compound, slowly trimming the deficit down lap by lap, the commentators and everyone was getting very excited about this. But the thing is that making a pass between identical cars is far easier said than done, especially since Lewis fended off Nico in their last fight in Bahrain where overtaking is far easier. Yet still we hoped, while everyone else was now 45 seconds further back to Ricciardo. Hamilton was getting very animated on the radio as he saw the other silver car growing fractionally larger in his mirrors - he questioned time lost in the pits, tyre condition, lap times, and overall race strategy... someone needs to calm down, you're still winning, what more do you want...
While others were just struggling to make it home on worn tyres, Vettel was reaping the benefits of his far fresher set, first picking off Raikkonen in the Ferrari and then hunting down and passing Valtteri Bottas for 4th place. Raikkonen was encountering a lack of pace in his car as he attempted to run to the end of the race on his set of harder tyres, dropping back into the hands of Alonso after the Spaniard made a third stop for medium tyres. It was nice to see two Ferrari's being allowed to fight for position - if one of those contained Felipe Massa, the Brazilian would have been forced to jump out of the way. Kimi tried to hold on to the place, but Fernando had far superior grip and held a tighter line through turn three giving him the inside into turn four.
Despite a late charge by Nico, Hamilton claimed another victory - leading another dominant 1-2 for Mercedes and they remain completely unbeaten in 2014 - no Mercedes that has completed the race has been behind anything else. Some considerable time later we saw Daniel Ricciardo claim his first legitimate podium with the second Red Bull in 4th after starting 15th on the grid - followed home by Bottas equalling his best result of the season. Finishing in formation were the two Ferrari's - Alonso leading Raikkonen home in 6th and 7th place. In 8th place Grosjean scores Lotus' first points this season, while Perez and Hulkenberg round out the top ten after a late reversal of position within that team battle.
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
Well it wasn't the most enthralling race in existence, but it didn't promise to be - either way it is time for reveal the bonus points winners
- 25pts - Sebastian Vettel - Has been criticised for not being able to race in the pack, but from 15th to fourth deserves some points
- 18pts - Romain Grosjean - Points for Lotus, when Pastor is being little more than a calamity in the same machinery
- 15pts - Nico Rosberg - Cut an initial deficit to only six tenths by the end of the race
- 12pts - Valtteri Bottas - Another strong run for the Williams, and was on for a podium before Red Bull turned up and took it away
- 10pts - Lewis Hamilton - Another day, another win
- 8pts - Daniel Ricciardo - His first legitimate podium - even if it was miles behind the lead pair
- 6pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Was able to run with Alonso today instead of being much further back
- 4pts - Jules Bianchi - For having a go round the outside of the Sauber of Adrian Sutil
- 2pts - Mercedes - Just have some points
- 1pt - Max Chilton - For not being last
Looking Ahead to Monaco
If there is one race this year where this streak of unstoppable form can be cancelled out, it is this one coming. Anything can happen on the streets of Monte Carlo with walls and barriers never too far away. It is also a track where the superior power that Mercedes have won't be as prominent, because the track is so tight and complex. Therefore Red Bull and Ferrari stand there best chance of beating the silver cars out front. On the other hand, overtaking is so difficult, and therefore the qualifying pace Mercedes have could keep them out of trouble. Spain might not have provided a spectacular race, but Monaco more than likely will - especially with Maldonado in his current destructive form... until then it is farewell from blog HQ
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