F1 News
GP of Spain 2020 | Hamilton league of his own, Verstappen can't keep up
- GPblog.com
After the Spanish Grand Prix took place in August last season, this season the race is back at its familiar spot in early May. GPBlog.com looks ahead to next weekend's edition with a look back at last year.
Verstappen does good business in Spain
Max Verstappen is generally doing well in Spain. In his debut year, he finished 11th in the Toro Rosso, but in 2016 he took his sensational debut victory in Formula 1 here. In 2017, Verstappen didn't make it to the finish line, but in the years that followed, he was consistently on the podium. Third in 2018 and 2019, second in 2020. With the current blood form of Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, it bodes well for this weekend.
Hot August weather
What makes the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix different from normal is the date of the event. The corona pandemic disrupted the calendar and the Spanish Grand Prix had to be rescheduled. In qualifying, the times were much slower than the year before.
Mercedes managed to cope with the conditions and Lewis Hamilton took his 92nd pole position with teammate Valtteri Bottas on the front row. Behind Verstappen, in third place, it is Racing Point that impresses. Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll managed to qualify fourth and fifth. Also, McLaren (seventh and eighth) is doing well. Especially Renault seems to have trouble with the heat. Daniel Ricciardo is no further than thirteenth, Esteban Ocon is fifteenth.
Verstappen catches Bottas at the start
Bottas takes a bad start and is overtaken by Verstappen and Stroll. A few laps later Bottas uses DRS to get the third place back from Stroll and that is basically the end of the race. Hamilton leads 66 laps and laps everyone except Verstappen and Bottas. Verstappen crossed the finish line 24 seconds behind and could not threaten the world champion.
Behind the top three, it is, fortunately, more exciting. There are fierce battles on track with some nice overtaking manoeuvres. Especially the McLaren drivers show their worth with sixth and tenth places for Carlos Sainz and Norris. Racing Point manages to hold on to their qualifying position during the race and score a lot of points with their best result of the season so far. Charles Leclerc is the only one to retire with an electrical problem.