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Four rounds done in the 2019 F1 Season and Mercedes have notched four consecutive 1-2 finishes and gotten off to the best start to the season of any team in F1 history. In another year where Ferrari seem to have the upper hand in terms of pace and performance, Mercedes have been getting the better of the Scuderia and it's currently a two horse race between Bottas and Hamilton at the front.
Last year's Spanish Grand Prix also ominously resulted in a Mercedes 1-2 finish as well, and with Mercedes firing on all cylinders right now, it's not hard to imagine them grabbing yet another similar finish. Ferrari just can't seem to put everything together over the weekend, with either reliability issues or qualifying troubles ruining their chances so far. Max Verstappen in the Red Bull has even managed to split Charles Leclerc from Sebastian Vettel in the Driver's Championship.
The midfield battle is tight as well, with Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly and Kimi Raikkonen all currently sitting in 6th with 13 points, and Lando Norris and Kevin Magnussen close behind. With everyone vying for sparse points, and Ferrari desperately trying to get a perfect weekend together, anything could happen in Spain. We can't tell for sure what will go down, but as always, that won't stop us from guessing!
#5 Bottas's Porridge gets him Pole
The F1 world has been taken by storm by Valtteri Bottas's breakfast of champions, with the Finn announcing porridge as the secret to his great races in 2019. The current championship leader seems to have found his groove and with Lewis Hamilton close behind, I see Mercedes at least starting off the weekend with a 1-2 on Saturday. I see Bottas ahead of Hamilton on Saturday, the reverse of last year's starting 2 in Spain.
Bottas and Hamilton have both shown that they can go quick in Spain, and can go quick this season. There will likely be nothing separating the two, and with one point leaving Bottas at the top for now, I see him being as motivated as ever to beat out his teammate for two races in a row and put himself in P1 on Saturday.
#2 Sebastian Vettel crashes in Qualification
Last time round in Azerbaijan we saw Charles Leclerc damage his race and ruin his qualification with an accident in Q3 to place him in 10th automatically. This time in Spain, we see Ferrari having yet another disaster on Saturday, with Vettel being on the short end. Vettel has qualified second or third for the first four races of this season and with the pressure mounting to bring the fight to Mercedes, we see the four time World Champion putting a foot wrong in Spain to end up in the gravel in one part of Quali.
We've had top cars, either a Red Bull or Ferrari having to fight their way through the field earlier this season, and in Spain it's our pick that Vettel will be the one making his way through the pack. Now a bad day on Saturday doesn't necessarily mean that Vettel will have his race completely ruined on Sunday, but in our minds, Ferrari will very literally have their struggles embodied by a mistake in Qualifying that forced Vettel to fight for every position on Sunday.
Vettel has started from lower positions before however and with the Ferrari underneath him that has shown pace, I do see him making his way back to some good points on Sunday, just how high is the question.
#3 Sainz runs high but DNF's
One of the striking things about the last few F1 seasons has been that drivers generally do not fare well at their home race. So far, the only driver to have their home race has been Daniel Ricciardo in Australia, who had to retire after an unbelievably unlikely front wing accident on the sprint into turn 1 of lap 1.
The only Spanish driver on the grid for the first time in a while, Carlos Sainz in the McLaren will be looking to put on a show for his home fans and bring home some good points in his Papaya and Blue machine. Considering that McLaren's package has significantly improved this year, I see him being able to put in a good performance in Quali and running very high in the race, possibly in the top 5 at one point if we see some chaos.
However, with it being his home race and that being something that generally seems to displease the F1 racing gods, I see Sainz unfortunately having a great points finish ripped away from him due to unreliability. McLaren so far has been able to stave off the issues of the past, but I see them kicking in at just the wrong moment in Spain to victimize yet another driver at their home race.
#4 Gasly beats out Verstappen fair
So far the story at Red Bull has been teething problems for Pierre Gasly, who hasn't been able to match Max Verstappen in either qualifying or in the race. His best finish so far has still been one place behind his teammate, and as a result of some bad luck and not so stellar performances, he's currently tied with Sergio Perez and Kimi Raikkonen with 13 points, while Verstappen is even ahead of Leclerc's Ferrari in the standings.
However, I see Spain being a turning point for the Frenchman with him finally getting the Red Bull under his feet and beating out his teammate in both quali and the race, fair and square. Whether this means a podium finish or not is up for grabs, but wherever Max Verstappen finishes, I see Gasly ending up at least one position ahead. This might even mean that Gasly ends up only just ahead of Verstappen in non points places if the Red Bulls just have a disastrous race.
However, overall I believe that Spain will prove to the world that Gasly can take the fight to Max and in some way or another, beat him out.
#1 Vettel fights back to Win
So with my prediction that Vettel will have a calamitous qualifying to represent Ferrari's struggles and symbolically show them on the back foot, I also see a charge to the front to hopefully represent the Scuderia finally getting it together to take on Mercedes. It would take a lot for this to come to be, especially seeing as Vettel has never won a race after starting the race from below P5. However, I finally see Ferrari having a great strategic showing on Sunday, allowing Vettel to put in a great drive and get all the way to the front of the grid by the end of the race.
I hope that a brilliant performance by the four time World Champion will show Mercedes and the world that the Italian outfit is not out of it yet, and can still put up a challenge this season, for the sake of F1 fans worldwide more than anything. Maybe it will take some chaos and a safety car or two for something like this to go down, and Spain certainly isn't known for being conducive to either safety cars or close racing, but it might just change this time around.
This prediction is really just one of hope. I hope that Ferrari can put a race together without putting themselves down. I hope that Ferrari can do so from a bad starting point to show some fighting spirit. And I hope that his year's drivers and constructors race can have some spice to it, and a good start to that would be a huge comeback drive from Sebastian Vettel.
