He finally did it! And rightly so as well!
The Spanish GP has finally come to an end and the champion is none other than Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. The German continues to thrive on the podium but this time, he stood at the center, sandwiched between team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Rosberg had a splendid weekend in the Barcelona track as he claimed his first pole position of the season, outperforming Hamilton three tenths of a second. He then continued to storm his first ever pole-to-flag victory of the season in Spain.
He produced a sterling performance throughout the race; leading most of the laps, even though it was Hamilton that clocked the fastest lap today.
Hamilton made a poor start and was delayed in his first pit stop, forcing his race time to be strongly affected. Ferrari had a great start, overtaking Hamilton but eventually suffered a setback in the second half of the laps. Valteri Bottas took his Williams to a massive improvement as he managed to lead as high as P3 but Vettel had the upper hand and Bottas finished fourth.
Aside from Rosberg, most of the drivers raced with frustration. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso bagged a DNF when he retired after 26 laps due to brake issues. The Spaniard sparked up the fans’ lament as he could not finish his home race. Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado made no surprise when he retired after 45 laps. This is the Venezuelan’s fourth DNF in five races.
Frenchman Romain Grosjean suffered gearbox problems and stole the spotlight when he headed to the pit stop in full throttle; he managed to stop before charging in front and hitting his two mechanics. The jackman jerked backwards and had to rest an ice pack in his lower abdomen.
Mercedes’ took on a one-two followed by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Williams’ Valteri Bottas. Kimi Raikkonen put his Ferrari fifth and Williams’ Felipe Massa claimed sixth place with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in seventh. Lotus’ Romain Grosjean finished eighth followed by Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr and Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat to round-up the top ten.
Mercedes lead constructor’s standing with 202 points, Ferrari take on second with 132 points. The next Grand Prix main race heads off to Monaco in May 24.
Photo credits: formula1.com
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