LEWIS Hamilton led the Spanish Grand Prix virtually from start to finish. It was by no means boring however, as teammate Nico Rosberg very cannily looked after his tyres, and then came up with an all out assault on the lead in the final 10 laps.
It was just not to be for the clever German but it certainly gave us an exciting photo finish with Rosberg only 0.6 seconds behind Hamilton at the flag.
This gives Hamilton a three point championship lead over Rosberg.
With Renault getting better all the time, we can be assured of some much closer races ahead of us, especially the next one at Monaco where the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo should be able to challenge very strongly.
Hamilton went straight into the lead at the start of the race but was soon struggling on the harder compound which he had chosen with graining problems. The medium tyre was the faster combination for the day and Rosberg, who looked after his tyres, was able to go back onto mediums for the latter part of the race.
His pursuit of Hamilton was relentless and, after an initial lead of nearly five seconds was gradually reduced to four, then three, then two and then the magic one, when DRS can be used.
This is what made the final laps so exciting as Rosberg, with the faster car, put Hamilton under immense pressure and he had to try everything in the book to keep ahead.
The Red Bull Renaults performed very well although not quite at the level of the Mercedes. Ricciardo drove an excellent race for third spot while Vettel was outstanding in being able to bring his car from 15th on the grid to fourth.
It was a relentless charge with numerous overtaking manoeuvres and Vettel showing his mettle once again.
The junior flying Finn, Valtteri Bottas, gave a very good account of himself in the very competitive Williams Mercedes, and brought his car home in a worthy fifth place ahead of both ‘prancing horses’.
Ferrari are still playing catch up but local man and double world champion Fernando Alonso once again proved his worth in getting past teammate and other flying Finn, Kimi Raikkonen, who finally performed much better and seems to have gained the reins of his ‘prancing horse’!
Lotus is another Renault engine car that is performing much better now and it was a disappointment for Pastor Maldonado to be given a stop-go penalty after running into Marcus Ericsson’s Caterham early on.
Romain Grosjean, however, did very well in both qualifying where he notched up fifth spot and in the race where he was well inside the top ten in eighth.
The two Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were slightly down in performance in this race compared to the last but still managed to earn the last two scoring positions in ninth and 10th respectively.
McLaren Mercedes were yet again a disappointment and Ron Dennis must be pulling out what little hair he has left. In qualifying Jenson Button was eighth and Kevin Magnussen 14th, while in the race they came home together in 11th and 12th positions, not really worthy of the McLaren brand! Unfortunately, Dennis can’t fire himself…
The next race is in Monaco on May 25.
Championship: 1 Lewis Hamilton 100; 2 Nico Rosberg 97; 3 Fernando Alonso 49; 4 Sebastian Vettel 45; 5 Daniel Ricciardo 39; 6 Nico Hulkenberg 37; 7 Valtteri Bottas 34; 8 Jenson Button 23; 9 Kevin Magnussen 20, Sergio Perez 20.
Constructors: 1 Mercedes 197; 2 Red Bull Renault 84; 3 Ferrari 66; 4 Force India Mercedes 57; 5 Williams Mercedes 46; 6 McLaren 43; 7 Toro Rosso Renault 8; 8 Lotus 4.
