NICO Rosberg drove a faultless race from pole position to the chequered flag in Barcelona to take an overwhelming win, nearly 20 seconds ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton was not on his usual form but, after a poor start, was able to hold the Mercedes flag high for another ‘1-2’ for the team.
Although Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished third, some 45 seconds behind Rosberg it was a bit of a disappointment for the Prancing Horse team as they had come to Spain full of hope that they could give Mercedes a difficult time.
It was not to be but Vettel did well to gain another podium finish.
It was Valtteri Bottas’s turn to command fourth place in his Williams Mercedes after a very good race on his behalf.
Kimi Raikkonen, in the second Ferrari, split the two Williams’ cars in fourth and sixth position, and Daniel Ricciardo did well to bring home his Red Bull Renault in seventh spot albeit lapped by the leader.
The remaining top 10 places were filled by Romain Grosjean in the Lotus, followed by Carlos Sainz Jnr in the Toro Rosso, and in 10th position Daniil Kvyat in the other Red Bull.
Sainz’s overtaking manoeuvre of Kvyat on the last lap was referred to the stewards for investigation after the race and was decided simply to be a racing incident.
McLaren showed some improvement with Jenson Button having a good dice with the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson as well as the Force India cars of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenburg.
They all finished within two seconds of each other while Fernando Alonso unfortunately had to retire with brake problems.
Hamilton now leads the championship with 111 points to Rosberg’s 91, while Vettel has 80 points, Raikkonen 52 and Bottas 42.
We look forward with excitement to the jewel in the crown in Monaco in a fortnight’s time where there could be a very different set of results.
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