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It’s that time of the year again! The teams pack up all the trucks and start off on a European tour like no other! Their first destination, Circuit De Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain! European leg also means the team set up their swanky motor-homes in the Paddock before the action begins on track!
Practice 1 started off with a damp track and the teams set out on the intermediate tires trying to find their groove on track. In the end with a drying track it was home boy Alonso gave the spectators what they came to see. He put his car on top followed closely by Massa. Red Bull used this session to test new parts and weren’t looking at lap times. Practice 2 started off with a dry track and Red Bull showed their true pace but were closely matched by Alonso in his Ferrari. At the end of the Friday practice, it looked like Ferrari and Red Bull were on top. McLaren were still unsure how good their updates were and Mercedes were surprisingly off the pace. Saturday practice is where the teams set up for Qualifying and that’s where Lotus joined the party, showing how fast they can be. This time Massa set the fastest time in his Ferrari!
Qualifying:
Q1 began and it was the usual suspects who were at the back. Unusually, Red Bull and Mercedes opted for the medium tires to get them into Q2. Last year’s pole-sitter Maldonado was out in Q1! I expected him to go through to Q2 at least. Q2 was exciting with Lewis setting a super fast lap at the very last minute! Button was disappointed, qualifying only in P14, outpaced by his team mate Perez who made it into Q3. The two Saubers and two Torro Rossos didn’t make the cut along with Sutil. Q3 started off and a fight between Ferrari and Red Bull was expected and then the two Mercedes cars came up with a blistering lap, locking out the front row with Rosberg on pole. It was Vettel and Kimi behind them and Alonso managed only 5th. Massa initially qualified in 6th but was given a 3 place grid penalty for impeding Webber.
Race:
With two Mercedes cars on the front row, it looked like it was going to be easy for them to hold off the pack. As the race began, Lewis fell back straight away and Alonso and Vettel took advantage of this. Massa had a storming start, making up 3 positions and Sutil made up 5 places to go to P8. Webber had another bad start, falling back to P11. With DRS enabled, it was Vettel and Alonso who were catching the Mercedes. Hamilton was struggling and Kimi overtook him for P4.
Most of the teams opted to pit early and it was Alonso who got past Vettel and started attacking Rosberg.
Grosjean had a problem with his car and ended up retiring on lap 10. Sutil had problems in the pits with smoke coming out from his brakes.
Gutierrez, who hadn’t pit yet was in the lead. Alonso overtook Rosberg into T1 and Rosberg fell back to P5. Gutierrez pitted and it was Alonso in the lead followed by Vettel, Massa and Raikkonen.
Maldonado was given a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
At lap 20, the second set of pit-stops began. Van der Garde had a loose wheel on and his left rear tyre came out when he was out on track. He managed to limp back to the pits.
Vettel and Raikkonen were the last ones to pit for the second time and at this point, Alonso was way up the field. Lotus decided on a three stop strategy for Kimi whereas the others were on a 4 stopper. If Alonso had to stay ahead despite an extra pit-stop, he had to get a big enough lead before pitting, and Alonso kept putting in those good fast laps.
Raikkonen and Vettel got very close at turn 10 and Seb managed to stay ahead for a few laps before Kimi finally got past at Turn 1.
Sauber’s Hulkenburg was released in an unsafe manner and hit the back of Vergne’s Torro Rosso in the pits, and he was handed a 10 second stop/go penalty for it! Correct decision by the FIA!
Raikkonen was closing in on Massa in P2 before Alonso and Massa both pit in succession. Alonso came out behind Kimi and eased past him 2 laps later. The top 3 were Alonso, Kimi and Massa at this time!
Massa was having a great race this weekend!
The two McLarens were fighting it out for P7, a mediocre performance by them this weekend.
Alonso kept pulling away to get a good lead to come out ahead of the rest after his next pit-stop. Kimi’s tires were falling off the pace. Webber who had a bad start managed to come up to 5th behind his team mate. A good race for him barring the start!
Kimi was the first to make his last pit-stop on lap 46 and came out in 3rd. Now all he had to do is push hard and catch Massa for P2.
Alonso had a big enough lead and pit on lap 50 and came back out in 1st. It was a race to the flag for him. Kimi was close to Massa and when Massa pit, Kimi moved up to 2nd.
Now, it was a race to the finish with the order being Alonso, Raikkonen and Massa. Di Resta was one of the last stoppers and in the end gave Rosberg a good fight for P6 but Rosberg managed to stay ahead of the Brit!
It was the start of the final lap and the crowd was going wild. This could mean only one thing and that was Alonso winning the race. Alonso took his 32nd win and in some fashion! Collecting the Spanish flag from a Marshall and waving to the fans.
Kimi finished in his 3rd consecutive 2nd place finish and surely will want to get on the top step again!
Massa had a fantastic race, starting from 9th and finishing in 3rd. Ferrari got two cars on the Podium and that’s surely must have felt good.
Red Bull finished in 4th and 5th and have got some thinking to do. Mercedes would be disappointed after starting from 1 and 2 and finishing only in 6th and 12th!
McLaren finished in 8th and 9th and this is still not good for them. Force India had only one car in the points at 7th, ahead of the McLarens. This is good for them in a way but they need to look at getting both the cars among the points.
So that’s the first round from the European part of the season done! Next up is everybody’s favourite, Monaco Grand Prix on one of the most beautiful tracks ever!
