The teams returned to the scene of pre-season testing for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. This was the circuit that hosted both of the pre-season tests, meaning that drivers have already ran a lot of practice laps prior to the race weekend, making this circuit the number one in laps run this season.
Friday got off to a good start for Ferrari, as they claimed the highest spots on the time chart for free practice one, with Mercedes trailing behind. Red Bull also showed their pace in free practice one, with the Red Bull and Toro Rosso drivers ranked in the top eight for both session, except for Daniil Kvyat, who was considerably off of the pace of his teammates. Nico Rosberg returned to his usual form in the second session of the day, topping the time charts. Meanwhile, his teammate was stuck in a Ferrari sandwich on the time charts, with Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel on either side. Williams declined in the second session, dropping out of the top ten.
Saturday started with the familiar order of Rosberg, Hamilton and Vettel at the top of the time charts. Red Bull continued their great performance in free practice three, as they managed to outperformance Kimi Räikkönen who complained of issues with grip. Meanwhile, Toro Rosso drifted down the time charts. When it came time to qualify, Hamilton was the best on the track, which was an unusual story given his technical issues in the previous rounds of the championship. Rosberg helped to lock out the front row of the grid. Directly behind Mercedes, Red Bull managed to lock out the second row of the grid, with Ferrari in row three. Valtteri Bottas was the lone Williams in the top ten at the grid, as his teammate, Felipe Massa, slumped down to P18 on the grid.
Sunday was Mercedes’ worst nightmare, as the teammates came together on the first lap, crashing each car out of the race. This disaster allowed Daniel Ricciardo to run some laps in the front of the field. He maintained this lead after they cycled through the first round of pitstops. Nico Hülkenberg retired from the race a third of the way through the race when his car caught fire. Ricciardo maintained the lead after the field cycled through pitstops, but Vettel managed to hop over Verstappen, while Räikkönen remained in P4. Vettel made a strange third pitstop, pitting after only eight laps on the soft tyre and switching to the medium tyre. This dropped him back to fourth place. Ricciardo pitting later, dropping behind Vettel and handing over the lead to Verstappen. After an intense battle between Verstappen and Räikkönen and Vettel and Ricciardo, Verstappen won his first ever Formula One race. The Ferraris finished the podium, while Ricciardo suffered a puncture on the penultimate lap.
The teams will remain in Spain for a two day test later in the week. They won’t be leaving Europe just yet, as they head to Monaco for the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix at the end of the month. The teams take over the streets of Monaco on the weekend of May 29.
