Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both failed to finish the 2016 Pirelli Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after a collision on the 1st lap. Stewards rule no further action will be taken against either driver after it was deemed a racing incident.
Nico Rosberg leads the Drivers' Championship by 39 points while Lewis Hamilton is in P3. Mercedes AMG Petronas (P1) lead Ferrari (P2) by 48 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: After all the hard work we've put in over the past two weeks it's deeply disappointing to come away with no points, but in my opinion this was a racing incident, with the drivers racing for position, and I don't want to start blaming one or the other. Both Lewis and Nico are upset and we talked with them, looking at the pictures and the data, to determine exactly what happened. By letting the drivers race as we do, this kind of eventuality can happen but we won't change our approach - we owe it to Formula One and the fans to let them race. But today, it was the work of the whole team that finished in the gravel trap, and this isn't what we want to see happen - both of the boys know how much hard work goes into each race weekend and that they have the responsibility to bring that home. We have matured as a team over the past years, so we will be able to move on from this and, hopefully, fight back in a positive way in Monaco. I want to add a word for Max, too; on a bad day for us, he sprinkled a bit of magic on the sport, so big congratulations to him on what I'm sure is only the first of his Grand Prix wins.
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): First of all, congratulations to Max Verstappen. It's a tremendous story for Formula One. It was a very short race for us today and it was a huge disappointment for the team, especially to lose both cars in such dramatic fashion. It's hard to take, especially given the amount of hard work prior to this weekend to solve a number of reliability risks and to bring the level of performance to the car that was witnessed in qualifying. It was a dominant front-row lockout and we were looking forward to a great race. We pride ourselves on allowing both our drivers to race, and race to the limit and that involves some tough manoeuvres from both Lewis and Nico and they sometimes won't work out as we saw today. The stewards have ruled for no further action against either of our drivers. Most importantly we head to Monaco stronger and in better shape to continue in our quest for the 2016 Championships.
Maurizio Arrivabene: We must be realistic and accept the fact that, if both Mercedes had been in the race, the result would have been different. Today we had an opportunity and we failed to take advantage. Even if on track we had a fast car we had to pay a hefty price for the problems we experienced in qualifying and which, on some parts of the circuit, re-surfaced during the course of the race. Now we must address these issues and move on from there. Congratulations to Max Verstappen for his maiden Formula One win.
Valtteri Bottas finished fifth and Felipe Massa eighth in today's Spanish Grand Prix. The team picked up 14 points to remain fourth position in the Constructors' Championship, and move 39 points clear of fifth-placed Toro Rosso. A two-stop strategy for Valtteri saw him finish fifth from seventh on the grid, benefitting from the two Mercedes colliding in the opening lap. Felipe executed his three-stop strategy perfectly, benefitting from an early pitstop on lap 8, making up ten track positons and finishing in the points. He finished just 1.169s adrift of seventh-placed Sergio Perez.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: I think Valtteri did a really good job. At the end of the first stint we asked him to push to overcut Sainz and Perez. We were about to call him in but we kept him on track so he could get the overcut, which worked well as Valtteri was very quick and pushing hard. After that, it was a straightforward race for him. Felipe's race was much more complex. It was a much harder job to get those four points. I think we did a really good job in terms of strategy, which we switched around a little bit. We had planned a three-stop strategy, but we changed our tyre plan in the middle of the race to ensure Felipe had good pace to overtake and make progress when he needed to. We got him past the McLarens and onto the back of Perez, but he was unfortunately not able to pass at the end. That's what we expected him to do in the race, and Felipe delivered. It was unfortunate he had to start from 18th, but we've all made mistakes and we've got to learn from them and do better next time. The pitwall worked well today and the pitstops were fantastic again; the team seems to be building in confidence as our stops continue to improve. Unfortunately, the car's pace isn't quick enough at the moment. Red Bull may have won today, but we won't stop challenging them. We'll keep pushing them as hard as we can, and in order to do that, we need more pace from the car.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "A quite remarkable day for Max Verstappen who, on his debut for the team, has become the youngest ever race winner after producing an exemplary drive. After the first lap incident between the Mercedes, we were in a great position to get some points, but to take on the Ferraris who had a very fast race car was always going to be difficult. We had to make some difficult decisions in the race, as it wasn't clear whether the two or the three stop was going to be quickest, so we elected to split the strategies. We felt that the two stop was right at the limit, but Max made the tyres last and didn't make any mistakes to score a very impressive victory. Daniel was obviously coming back through the field with much younger tyres, but unfortunately picked up a puncture with a couple of laps to go; otherwise I am sure he would have been on the podium too. But, there's a lot to look forward to and it's great to be back on the top step of the podium."
Sahara Force India scored six points in today's Spanish Grand Prix with Sergio Perez racing to seventh place. Teammate Nico Hulkenberg was an early retirement following an oil leak and fire.
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "It's been quite an eventful weekend for us, so it's fairly satisfying to be leaving Barcelona with six points in our pocket. We made a good step with the car, allowing Sergio to run solidly inside the top ten all afternoon. It's a track with limited strategy options and few overtaking opportunities so it was quite a lonely and straightforward race for him. On the other side of the garage, Nico was out of luck with an oil leak causing a fire and forcing an early retirement. Thankfully Nico was able to park up and helped the marshals extinguish the fire. So it's been another mixed weekend, but I think our improved performance bodes well for the remainder of the season. As we learn more about this car we have the potential to continue scoring good points at the upcoming races."
Renault Sport Formula One Team finished a close-packed thirteenth and fourteenth in today's Pirelli Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. A different strategy was employed across the two cars, with Kevin Magnussen changing to a three-stop race and Jolyon Palmer running to two stops. Both drivers were right together for the final laps, with Jolyon finishing just 2.7secs ahead of Kevin.
Kevin started the race in P15 on new soft Pirelli tyres, changing to a new set of medium on lap 10, a new set of hard tyres on lap 30 and a scrubbed set of soft tyres on lap 55. Jolyon started the race in P17 on new soft tyres, changing to new medium tyres on lap 11 and new hard compound tyres on lap 33.
Fred Vasseur, Racing Director: "That was a tough race for us but both our drivers pushed hard, right until the chequered flag. Kevin struggled on the hard tyre so we switched strategy for him whereas Jolyon was able to make the most of a two-stop strategy and gave us his best performance to date. It was an great race for Formula 1 today. Congratulations to Max Verstappen on his first Grand Prix victory; it is good for the sport to see Red Bull back on the top step of the podium, especially in such an exciting manner."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "First of all, I'd like to congratulate Red Bull and Max for their first victory of the year. It's great to see that Max was well-prepared for such a big success and to achieve it so quickly is something extraordinary! As for our race, Carlos did a very good qualifying yesterday and this was the base for his fantastic race result today. After the first lap, he was in third position and he defended well, but clearly we didn't have the performance in the straight against the Ferrari's. From that point onwards he drove a very comfortable race, with really good lap times and showing an excellent pace. Regarding Daniil, he had to start from P13, which didn't make things easy, but he also did a good job in the opening laps. Unfortunately he overtook two cars under the Safety Car, so he had to give these positions back and this compromised his race a bit, but then he caught-up again thanks to a great strategy and good pit-stops. He managed to cross the line scoring a point, which is a positive sign and very important for us. We are now fifth in the Constructor's Championship and I hope we can defend this position. We have a very strong package also for Monaco and I'm quite confident that we can also score good points there."
It was an exciting Spanish Grand Prix on the Circuit of Catalunya that the Sauber F1 Team finished in P12 (Ericsson) and P15 (Nasr). Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr did a good job on their respective strategies.
Monisha Kaltenborn: "That is a result which we can build on. Marcus was able to make his way up to the midfield due to very good driving. It is a positive sign that the team needs. Felipe also did his best, but was on a different strategy."
Jenson Button finished ninth in a Spanish Grand Prix that was dominated by thrill and incident. Starting 12th, Jenson made a perfect getaway to dive ahead of two cars into the first corner. When the two leaders collided at Turn Four, he finished the first lap in eighth position. From there, he managed his tyres through the race, resisted the pressure from his chasing team-mate Fernando Alonso, pulled off a feisty overtake on Esteban Gutierrez at Turn 10 on lap 61, and maintained his pace ahead of a fast-closing Daniil Kvyat, who was gaining fast on far fresher rubber.
By his own admission, Fernando didn't make a good start, but shadowed Jenson, and ran inside the top 10, for much of the race. Unfortunately, he retired on lap 45, when sitting in 12th, preparing to charge for a top-10 finishing position in the final laps.
Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "Such was the drama of today's Spanish Grand Prix that few spectators or TV viewers will probably have paid much attention to Jenson's calm and well-judged run to ninth place - another points-scoring result following immediately after our double-points-scoring success in Sochi two weeks ago.
"Disappointingly for the local fans, Fernando was unable to score points today, owing to a software command issue that stopped the ICE. Until that moment he'd been driving hard and well, and, but for the problem that ended his race, may well have also finished inside the top 10.
"However, as I've said before, mere points aren't what we at McLaren-Honda are all about - podiums, wins and championships are what float our boat, and undoubtedly they'll come. I'll make no predictions about the next race, the unique challenge that is the Monaco Grand Prix, but you may rest assured that we'll be gunning for a decent result on the notoriously unforgiving streets of the famous Principality.
"Last but not least, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate young Max [Verstappen], who today became the youngest Grand Prix winner in Formula 1 history, a record held for the past eight years by Sebastian, for the five years before that by Fernando, and for no fewer than 44 years before that by the founder of our company, the great Bruce McLaren."
Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer: "It was a bittersweet end to an eventful Spanish Grand Prix. Fernando's retirement was caused by a software command issue that stopped the ICE. We think that the power unit as a whole is not damaged from this incident, but we will continue to investigate the effects of this stop. Obviously we will work with the team to see how this kind of situation can be avoided in the races going forward.
"Jenson started brilliantly, but, on the whole, it was a long and difficult race for him, trying to save tyres while fending off the competition and maintaining position. Therefore, it was a pleasure to see him finish in the points after a difficult weekend."
Dave Ryan, Racing Director: "It's good to get two cars to the finish here but it was a long and lonely race for Pascal and Rio. We ran different tyre strategies between the two drivers - Pascal ran Soft, Medium, Medium, while Rio finished up on the Soft - just to create different options if the race presented some opportunities. Unfortunately, there was a certain amount of inevitability about what we could achieve here. On paper, the next couple of tracks should be slightly more favourable for us, plus we have the test this week to delve a little deeper into how we can extract more performance from our new developments."
Haas F1 Team just missed a point-scoring result Sunday in the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona - Catalunya. Esteban Gutierrez drove his VF-16 from 18th-place on the grid to finish 11th, one spot out of the points. His teammate, Romain Grosjean, endured a difficult race, as he was forced to retire with brake problems 10 laps short of the checkered flag.
Gutierrez's 11th-place effort was his best of the season. Utilizing a two-stop strategy, Gutierrez began the 66-lap race around the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn circuit on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tire. He pitted on lap 15 for another set of softs and after pit stops had cycled through, was up to 15th.
A spirited drive and the attrition of others allowed Gutierrez to climb to 10th by the time of his final pit stop on lap 31, where he took on Pirelli P Zero white medium tires.
As others pitted, Gutierrez climbed to eighth with 20 laps remaining, but those on fresher tires began to reel him in. Still, Gutierrez remained eighth with 10 laps to go, and the prospect of a point-paying finish was very much in sight. Unfortunately, the Williams of Felipe Massa caught Gutierrez with eight laps to go, then the McLaren of Jensen Button dropped Gutierrez to 10th with six laps to go, and on the penultimate lap, the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat took the final point-paying spot, leaving Gutierrez 11th.
Grosjean, meanwhile, sustained a broken front wing that needed to be replaced on lap 38, which jettisoned him from 12th to 18th, one lap down. Then on lap 57, Grosjean keyed the radio saying he had no more brakes. This being a safety issue, Grosjean brought the car to the garage. It was his first retirement of 2016 and his first since the United States Grand Prix last October, a span of eight races.
The collective finish dropped Haas F1 Team to sixth in the constructor standings, as Toro Rosso leapfrogged the team via Carlos Sainz Jr.'s sixth-place effort and Kvyat's 10th-place result. Haas F1 Team is now four points behind fifth-place Toro Rosso and eight points ahead of seventh-place Force India.
Winning the Spanish Grand Prix was Red Bull's Max Verstappen. It was his first Formula One victory, and at age 18 he becomes the series' youngest race winner, as well as the youngest race leader, youngest points scorer and youngest to be on the podium. Verstappen earned the accolades, starting fourth and beating 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen to the stripe by .616 of a second.
Guenther Steiner: "It was a very eventful race for us with both our drivers. We had a problem with the front wing for Romain. We changed it, obviously, but then we had to retire him as he had a brake issue. Esteban did a good job. I think in the end he ran out of tires. There was no grip anymore - they'd gone off the cliff. He fought the whole race. We got him to 11th - almost a point - but we just didn't get it. It shows we are there when we need to be there. All in all, it was our most difficult race and our most eventful race of the year. It's part of the game. It doesn't always go perfectly."
Strategy was at the forefront of the Spanish Grand Prix, with the final result remaining in doubt right to the very end as the race protagonists adopted different thinking in the timing and choice of tyre changes. In the end, Max Verstappen became the youngest grand prix winner in history on his Red Bull debut, finishing the race on a set of medium tyres that had completed 32 laps: one lap more than those on the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who finished second. Both Ferrari and Red Bull split their strategies: each team stopping twice with one car and three times with the other.
All three compounds - hard, medium and soft - were used throughout the 66-lap grand prix, with a race-long battle between Red Bull and Ferrari, while tyre management provided an essential key to success. Four drivers were still in contention for the win all the way to the final lap, although Daniel Ricciardo was affected by a slow puncture at the very end, probably caused by debris.
The teams now remain in Barcelona for the first in-season test of the year, which will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. A number of teams will run young drivers, while the tyres used will be the usual 2016 compounds seen since the start of this year, chosen by each team for testing purposes.
Paul Hembery: "This was a complex strategic battle all the way to the very end, with the balance of power shifting between Red Bull and Ferrari as the tactics evolved from lap to lap. The result was a fascinating race that remained absolutely unpredictable all the way to the chequered flag, making it one of the stand-out events of the season. During the final 10 laps the drivers had to manage their tyres to be sure of maintaining performance to the finish, adding yet another intriguing dimension to the action. This is the sort of race we were hoping for with our current range of compounds and the latest tyre regulations, so the Spanish Grand Prix certainly delivered. We've seen Formula One history being made today with the youngest winner ever in the sport, and we feel very proud to play a part in that."
Truthometer
We predicted a two-stop strategy as being the most likely option, starting on soft, then switching to soft on lap 20 and medium on lap 40. Verstappen adopted a two-stop soft-medium-medium strategy, stopping after laps 12 and 34.
