The teams were at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first time this season, having changed venues for pre-season testing this season. The FORMULA 1 ARAMCO GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2021 ended up being a battle of tyre strategies, with a split between the one-stop and two-stop strategies.
Both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen got away well off the line, but Verstappen was slightly quicker. He slipped in behind Hamilton down the run to the first corner, using the slipstream to keep with the pole sitter. Verstappen dove on the inside of Hamilton in the first corner. The two nearly collided as the first right-hand corner transitioned into a left-hand turn. Hamilton had to yield and give Verstappen the lead of the race.
Behind, Valtteri Bottas’ exit from turn two was hindered by his slower teammate ahead. This allowed Charles Leclerc around the long turn three. Leclerc had to settle with just P3 for the time being, as the two leaders quickly pulled a gap from the rest.
The safety car was deployed early in the race to recover the powerless AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda from the outside of turn 10. The car spontaneously lost power on lap 8, marking the first retirement of Tsunoda’s F1 career.
The safety car was fairly short and the race resumed a few laps later. When the race restarted, Verstappen and Hamilton began to build a gap again to the rest of the field. Verstappen maintained the lead, with Hamilton hovering in and out of DRS range.
Bottas was the first of the top 5 drivers to dive into the pit lane for a fresh set of medium tyres on lap 23.
Verstappen pitted for tyres on lap 24. It was a late call for the Red Bull to come into the pit, meaning some of the mechanics were late running out of the garage. One of these was the mechanic carrying the new rear-left medium compound tyre. He had to wait for Verstappen to stop in the pit box before running into position. This led to a slightly slower pit stop for the team: a 4.2 second stop instead of the roughly 2.0 second stop Red Bull is accustomed to.
Mercedes did not immediately respond to the pit stop from Red Bull, leaving Hamilton out. They decided to stretch Hamilton’s stint slightly longer, hoping that Hamilton will have the fresher tyres for the final stint of the race. Hamilton ended up pitting a few laps later, giving him tyres that were 4 laps newer than Verstappen’s.
With newer tyres, Hamilton was able to catch up to Verstappen quickly, but he was stuck hovering in and out of the DRS range, not getting close enough to launch an overtake. After being stuck behind Verstappen for many laps, made a late dive into the pit lane on lap 43 for a set of scrubbed medium tyres.
It was a battle of the tyres out front, with Hamilton originally predicted to catch Verstappen on the final lap of the race. Hamilton was catching the leader by about a second a lap. When he came up to his teammate, everyone expected Bottas to move out of the way. The Finn didn’t make Hamilton’s life easy, ultimately not moving out of the way. Hamilton had to battle his teammate on the inside of turn 10.
Although battling his teammate did lose him some time on Verstappen, Hamilton was able to resume his charge. He was gaining rapidly on Verstappen at a little less than 2 seconds per lap. By lap 59 of 66, Hamilton was within DRS range of the leading Red Bull. Down the main straight with DRS at the start of lap 60, Hamilton cruised by Verstappen to take the lead and eventual victory. With a third victory in 2021, Hamilton extended his lead at the top of the championship table.
With a comfortable gap to Bottas in P3, Verstappen pitted for a new set of soft tyres to try and earn the bonus point for the fastest lap of the race. He was able to set the fastest lap and keep it (unlike last weekend in Portugal).
The teams and drivers now have a week to recoup before transporting their racing machinery to the narrow streets of Monaco. The race will be on May 23.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L. Hamilton | ||
| 2 | M. Verstappen | ||
| 3 | V. Bottas | ||
| 4 | C. Leclerc | ||
| 5 | S. Perez | ||
| 6 | D. Ricciardo | ||
| 7 | C. Sainz | ||
| 8 | L. Norris | ||
| 9 | E. Ocon | ||
| 10 | P. Gasly | ||
| 11 | L. Stroll | ||
| 12 | K. Raikkonen | ||
| 13 | S. Vettel | ||
| 14 | G. Russell | ||
| 15 | A. Giovinazzi | ||
| 16 | N. Latifi | ||
| 17 | F. Alonso | ||
| 18 | M. Schumacher | ||
| 19 | N. Mazepin | ||
| DNF | Y. Tsunoda | ||
