Felipe Massa will receive a three-place grid penalty for the Spanish Grand Prix for impeding Mark Webber in the second part of qualifying yesterday. Esteban Gutierrez gets the same punishment for blocking Kimi Raikkonen earlier in the session. The starting grid for today’s race therefore looks like this (drivers with penalties in italics):
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault
- Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus-Renault
- Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
- Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Renault
- Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault
- Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes
- Felipe Massa, Ferrari
- Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes
- Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso-Ferrari
- Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso-Ferrari
- Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes
- Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes
- Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari
- Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Renault
- Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Renault
- Giedo van der Garde, Caterham-Renault
- Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber-Ferrari
- Jules Bianchi, Marussia-Cosworth
- Max Chilton, Marussia-Cosworth
- Charles Pic, Caterham-Renault
The weather looks good today and the emphasis once again will be on tyres. Four stops are predicted by some. An all-Mercedes front row but the combination of DRS and degrading rubber could lead to plenty of competition for the lead this afternoon. There are two DRS zones here this year, along the main straight as well as the short blast from the rapid Campsa down to the tight Turn 10.
Laps 1-5:
After a very slow formation lap, the race begins. Vettel moves up to second passing Hamilton, who also gets passed by Alonso to go fourth. Raikkonen is fifth with Perez sixth, Massa seventh, Sutil eighth, Grosjean ninth and di Resta 10th. Webber had another horrible start to finish his first lap in 11th. Rosberg leads but isn’t making a move to pull away from Vettel who will have DRS available from lap three. Bianchi makes the first stop at the end of the second lap, seemingly for a tyre change. Replays of the start show Alonso passing Raikkonen and Hamilton on the outside of turn 3 – it’s even more impressive from on board!
Laps 6-10:
Hamilton has drifted slightly away from Alonso over the last couple of laps, coming under major pressure from Raikkonen and Massa. Raikkonen finally tries a move on Hamilton and it is a fine pass down into Turn 10 to take over fourth place. Red Bull is going to pull Webber out of the traffic jam and into the pits – this leads to a raft of stops as most drivers make a tyre change. Rosberg continues to lead for the moment, now driving into the pits followed by Vettel. Alonso stopped earlier.
Laps 11-15:
That earlier stop for Alonso has worked well and he is right in between Rosberg and Vettel as they resume. Meanwhile, Gutierrez is yet to stop in his Sauber and is the current leader. Alonso passes Rosberg into turn 1 of lap 13, followed by Vettel passing him too at turn 6 and then Massa getting by into turn 10. Gutierrez pits from the lead, handing the advantage to Alonso in his Ferrari. So it’s now Alonso from Vettel, Massa and Rosberg – all running on the hard tyres, while Raikkonen runs fifth on medium compound. Raikkonen then passes Rosberg for fourth. Maldonado runs through the pitlane for a drive-through penalty for speeding there during his first stop – he resumes in 17th.
Laps 16-20:
Alonso has pulled almost two seconds clear of Vettel. Chilton is the only driver yet to stop – although he is losing four seconds per lap to those around him. The race is a little more settled now as there is a lull between stops and drivers now are in places relative to the speed of their car. Rosberg’s pace is poor and he is moving backwards towards Webber and Perez in 6th and 7th respectively. Di Resta is eighth and Ricciardo gained well out of the stops to be ninth. Hamilton is 10th and dropping away slightly from Ricciardo. The gap between them is out to two seconds. Hulkenberg is 11th with Vergne 12th, Gutierrez 13th, Button up to 14th, Bottas 15th, Maldonado 16th and van der Garde 17th. Pic is 18th with Sutil now 19th, Bianchi is 20th having just pitted for a second time with Chilton 21st after finally stopping. The Mercedes’ pace is terrible, especially for a team who locked out the front row. Ricciardo passes di Resta for 8th place in turn 1 of lap 19.
Laps 21-25:
The second stops begin during this section – much movement across the field. Massa is the man on the move with fresh tyres, leaping past Ricciardo and Perez to get back up to fifth place. Alonso likes his fresh rubber too, blasting past the old-tyre shod Mercedes of Rosberg to take over third place. Giedo van der Garde had a wheel come off his Caterham – he managed to crawl back to the pits on three wheels. Alonso certainly appears to be on a four-stop plan, with Raikkonen and Vettel seemingly planning to stop three times. Alonso is now over seven seconds behind leader Vettel, who has Raikkonen all over his gearbox until Vettel pits.
Laps 26-30:
Rosberg is still struggling on his tyres, but at least he has only made one stop. Hamilton is now in 14th but has new tyres after stopping on lap 27. Raikkonen also pits and resumes in 4th ahead of Rosberg. Alonso is now 18 seconds ahead of Raikkonen, who is currently looking for a way past Vettel to take over third place on the road. Alonso is pulling away in the lead.
Laps 31-35:
There is wheel-to-wheel battling with Raikkonen and Vettel as the pair battle into Turn 10. The Red Bull remains ahead for now as they race into the DRS zone, which is the boost that Raikkonen needs as he eventually takes third place from Vettel – Massa is next down the road for him with Alonso a further 19/20 seconds ahead. Other than this, not a huge amount has happened in these 5 laps.
Laps 36-40:
Hulkenberg pits the Sauber, allowing Ricciardo through to eighth position – problems though as Hulkenberg was released into the path of Vergne. The pair made contact and have slight damage, but both have rejoined. Hulkenberg pits again for a new front wing on lap 37. Hulkenberg will get a penalty for the unsafe release. Alonso makes his third stop along with Massa and Webber – all going back out on the medium compound tyre. Raikkonen now takes the lead from Alonso, Vettel, Massa, di Resta and Rosberg. Although Alonso breezes past Raikkonen for the lead on lap 39. Vergne pits after a tyre delamination.
Laps 41-45:
Sutil has just posted the fastest lap of the race – 1m26.564s – from 15th position. Alonso’s lead is now three seconds over Raikkonen, with Massa a further 12.3 seconds back in third place. Button makes a move on Gutierrez and passes to take 7th. Alonso remains on track to win this race, pulling now 4.8 seconds clear of Raikkonen whose tyres are now 20 laps old. He, along with many other drivers are trying to conserve rubber.
Laps 46-50:
Raikkonen pits and puts a fresh set of hard rubber on to get to the flag. His pit stop puts him down to third, behind Massa and Alonso but both Ferrari’s need to pit again. Button pits to put Perez into 8th, Ricciardo 9th, Hamilton 10th, Gutierrez 11th and rejoins in 12. Raikkonen is catching Massa with some very fast laps. Alonso pits from the lead at the end of lap 49. He returns to the track ahead of Massa and Raikkonen in the lead. The battle now appears to be who will fill the rest of the podium.
Laps 51-55:
After his latest pit stop, Button passes Hamilton for 10th on fresh tyres. At the end of lap 51, bit Vettel and Massa pit for the final time. This puts Raikkonen on track for second and Massa third, Vettel is fourth and Webber fifth with di Resta sixth. Maldonado is up to 12th because Hamilton has just been in for a stop. The Mercedes driver has rejoined in 13th after his fourth stop. Vergne retires, his damage from earlier in the race proving too difficult to fix. Pole sitter Rosberg lies in sixth after di Resta pits.
Laps 56-60:
Gutierrez and Hulkenberg have been into the Sauber pit in quick succession. That is the sixth stop for Hulkenberg – he could almost reach Alain Prost’s record for pit stops in one race soon. Alonso still has a comfortable lead of 13.5 seconds and remains on course for victory. Not a huge amount is going on now as the race really has settled.
Laps 61-66:
The two McLaren drivers are close together on track now, Perez catching Button. At the bottom end of the top 10, Gutierrez closes the gap to just 0.5s as he closes on Ricciardo in a fight for 10th spot and the final point. Rosberg in sixth is still under attack from di Resta, but the German has been able to hold the Scot off. Di Resta has a go at Turn 1 but isn’t quite close enough. Another attempt at Turn 4 but the Mercedes remains ahead with 2 laps to go. Alonso still leads Raikkonen. There are battles everywhere – Rosberg holding off di Resta, Button remains ahead of Perez and Ricciardo is hanging on against Gutierrez. There will be some close finishes here.
Alonso takes the win, with Raikkonen second, the best of the three stoppers. He is followed by Massa who produced a good drive today. Vettel is fourth and Webber fifth as Red Bull have no answer for Ferrari and Lotus today. Rosberg ended up sixth ahead of di Resta. Button was eighth ahead of team mate Perez in ninth. Ricciardo takes the final point in tenth. 82 pit stops in the race meant a frantic time in the pit lane.
The whole race has been an interesting one. Not great by any means – strategic races never are. But it closes up the championship well meaning that any gaps that have been made are narrowed.
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