2015 Spanish Grand Prix: A Short Review and Championship Standings

Nico Rosberg finally showed some of the spark we saw last year as he took his first victory of the season in Spain. The Mercedes team dominated the race to take a one-two here.

The German led away from pole and remained in the lead for the whole race. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was second, 17.5 seconds behind, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel a further 27.7 seconds in third at the finish. This allows Rosberg to close the gap to Hamilton in the Championship to 20 points, with Vettel another 11 behind.

A race like this makes me doubt my recent assertion that Ferrari are challengers to Mercedes this season. After four relatively exciting races too, the start of the European season will not go down as a classic. Rosberg, therefore, was always likely to be favourite for the win after taking pole position on a track that is not known for overtaking. Hamilton lost a place to Vettel at the start and a poor pit stop meant he couldn’t use that to gain an advantage either. Vettel’s advantage was further extended when Hamilton stopped three times, compared to Vettel’s two.

Valtteri Bottas finished the race in fourth for Williams, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and the other Williams of Felipe Massa. The other points scorers were Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in seventh and a lap behind, Lotus’s Romain Grosjean in eighth followed by Carlos Sainz in his Toro Rosso and the other Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat.

McLaren are still waiting for their first points of the season, with Jenson Button’s 100th McLaren start finishing in a lowly 16th place and Fernando Alonso retiring from another race with brake problems after running as high as seventh.

2015 Spanish Grand Prix Result