Some bright spark tried to liven up proceedings by painting #SpainishGP up and down the pit-lane. Spainish painters aside, what you can rely on at the Catalunya circuit is:
1. Qualifying is ark-like - the cars come in two by two by two.
2. The race is almost always won from the front row.
The ark went Mercedes-Ferrari-Red Bull and we seemed assured of Mercedes on the top step, and they duly obliged by filling the top two steps, and staying in order. The surprise was that Verstappen leap-frogged both Ferraris (Kimi's car gave up and Vettel needed an extra stop) to take the final spot. Post-race, Hamilton had to remind Max to get weighed. "Yeah, it's been a while", laughed Max.
The main talking point of the race was Grosjean somewhat inexplicably burying the throttle as he span, mid-pack, on the first lap. His improvised smokescreen meant he wiped out Hulkenberg and Gasly and deprived us of some potentially good racing (and condemned himself to "null points" until Canada at least, because surely he can't make it through Monaco without incident? Prove me wrong, Romain.). Is this a return to the accident-prone 2014 Grosjean? He's really letting down those who picked Haas. At least he didn't try to blame Erikson this time. He said he "tried to save the car and put it in a good direction". From behind guilty sunglasses. Then off to the stewards to get his deserved points (licence, not championship) and grid demotion for Monaco. Gunter Steiner tried to stick up for him, saying the penalty was "like kicking him in the face". Best not give Gasly and Hulk ideas, Gunter.
Other notable moments were: Alonso round the outside of Ocon at turn 3, Sirotkin and Ricciardo not being able to drive at VSC speeds, Max clipping the back of Stroll, and Perez smashing through Max's discarded front-wing end-plate.
Hartley tyre-walled his car in final practice and it actually snapped while being picked up by the recovery vehicle. No qualy for Brendon. That enabled him to make up the most places, though largely due to attrition rather than awesome driving. Cue me cruelly willing my also-ran drivers to fail FP3 and start from the back of the grid in future races. Fastest lap was Ricciardo proving the pace of the Red Bull in race trim and/or no-one else grandstanding for the fastest lap.
Hamilton talked some b******s about having "synergy with the car" and no-one listened, because they were still thinking, "seriously dude, what is with your hair?".
Next: Monaco, baby!
twctfwcautog
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