Lewis took his 76th career victory today - his third of the 2019 season and fourth at the Chinese Grand Prix. Valtteri finished the Spanish Grand Prix in P2, completing a 1-2 for the team.
Lewis claimed his fifth fastest lap in Spain, equalling Italy for the most he's scored at any Grand Prix.
Lewis (112 points) leads the Drivers' Championship by seven points from Valtteri (105 points). Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (217 points) lead Ferrari (121 points) by 96 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG & Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, accepted the Constructors' trophy on behalf of the team.
Toto Wolff: We are trying to push the benchmark every single year and seeing this all come together after the struggles we had in winter testing is fantastic for the team. We saw a strong Lewis today and he was quick from the very beginning. Valtteri lost the lead at the start; he reported something strange with his clutch at the start and we need to investigate this. After the first corner it was a relatively straightforward race. This was Dr. Zetsche's last race as CEO of Daimler. Not many CEOs have empowered a group of people like he has done; he has trusted us to represent this fantastic brand and we do it with great pride. Dieter went through a storm in the first few years when we returned to the sport, but he stuck with F1. It was great to see him up there on the podium today, he completely deserves it as he laid the foundation for all of this. We know the next race will be a tremendous challenge for us. We need to take this season one step at a time and everybody is working flat-out ahead of Monaco.
Andrew Shovlin: To walk away with another 1-2 from Barcelona is amazing, especially when we consider how bleak our chances looked when we were here in winter testing. The team has done a great job developing and improving the car although I think the track suited us today, so we expect it will be more difficult in some of the races to come. The start was obviously a key point in the race, with Lewis jumping ahead of Valtteri. We'll look into understanding what happened with Valtteri but they both did a good job of defending against Vettel and avoiding contact into Turn 1. Our plan going into the race was to try and make the one-stop work so during the first stint both drivers were having to do a fair amount of management. The cars behind looked like they had moved towards two stops so we asked the drivers to pick up the pace to keep the stop gap open, but that started to increase our own degradation which eventually forced us in. By that point, it was just a case of getting the medium to the end so they were both taking it reasonably easy. When Verstappen came in on lap 44, a window appeared for us to move both to a two stop to reduce the risk that we would run out of tyres at the end. We'd stopped Valtteri already and were in the process of bringing Lewis in when the safety car came out. From there is was quite straight forward. Both drivers had a go at fastest lap with Lewis getting it in the end and after that, we just managed the cars to the finish.
Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow leaves the Spanish Grand Prix with a fourth and fifth place finish, which definitely did not live up to expectations. It is an even greater incentive to work flat out during the two days of testing at this same Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona this coming Tuesday and Wednesday.
Sebastian got an excellent start, to the extent that he managed to come round the outside of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at the first corner. But the German slightly locked his wheels, which saw him run wide, letting Max Verstappen slip past. On lap 11, with Vettel struggling having flat-spotted a tyre after the start, he switched positions with Leclerc. The German then pitted on lap 19, fitting the Medium tyres. Six laps later it was Leclerc's turn to pit and he went for Hards.
On the harder tyres, Charles did not have the grip he would have liked and Sebastian soon caught up to him. Once again therefore, the positions were inverted, on lap 35. Five more laps and Vettel made his second stop, taking on another set of Mediums. He came out of pit lane behind Pierre Gasly, but he got by immediately, while Verstappen was also making a second stop, leaving Leclerc in third.
On lap 45, a collision between Lando Norris and Lance Stroll brought out the Safety Car, which meant the team had to change Charles' strategy, as he would not have been able to fend off Verstappen on the hard tyres, so he was brought in for a set of Mediums, rejoining fifth. In the closing stages, Sebastian was unable to attack the Dutchman and finished fourth ahead of his team-mate.
Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow and the other nine teams are staying on in Barcelona for two days of testing with both the SF90s. On Tuesday, Charles will be at the wheel for the team, while Sebastian will be working for Pirelli. On Wednesday, Charles will take over for the tyre supplier, while Antonio Fuoco will drive for the team test.
Mattia Binotto Team Principal: This was yet another race that ended well below our expectations. It was a shame about the start, because Sebastian got off the line really well but then he locked up the wheels and lost some places. The decision to split the strategies was taken as the race evolved. Swapping the driver positions round is never easy and we thought we'd done it at the right moment, when we were sure that the one behind had a better pace than the one in front. The updates we brought here to Barcelona, both on the aero front and on the engine, worked well and we are more than pleased with them, but they proved to be insufficient. Now we have to analyse and think about what did not work. And when it comes to that, as of today I don't think we have a precise answer. We know we have a lot to do and that we must improve. That was made clear this weekend, but we are not losing heart. The mood in the team is still good and there's a strong desire to do better, so now we have to respond with our actions. Congratulations to Mercedes on what they have done so far.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "It was a phenomenal first lap from Max as he managed to pass both Ferraris in Turns 2 and 3, and Pierre got a reasonable start too. We elected quite early on to be a little more aggressive and go on a two stop strategy. Max was very consistent today and he was able to get everything out of the car, maintaining third position and holding off Seb after the Safety Car at the end of the race. Pierre had another strong race, however he picked up some debris about half way through the race which got lodged in his front wing and cost him quite a bit of performance. All things considered, it was a very strong race again from him and he brought the Team more important points. It's great to get our second podium of the year and now there's obviously plenty to do before Monaco, where Mercedes will be the benchmark going into the weekend, but hopefully we can continue to close the gap."
Renault F1 Team fell short of scoring points in the Emirates Spanish Grand Prix with Daniel Ricciardo twelfth and Nico Hulkenberg narrowly behind in thirteenth at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday.
Daniel gained one position by the end of lap one before maintaining position in the early running. The Australian couldn't make further inroads from there until a late Safety Car closed the field up with Daniel pushing for the final points place, which came to no avail.
Having qualified sixteenth, Nico started the race from the Pit Lane due to a post-qualifying penalty and made the most of the opportunity by adding new engine parts to his car. A strong start allowed him good position in the midfield battle, but he too missed out on points after the late Safety Car.
Nico started from the Pit Lane on Pirelli's new Medium (yellow) tyres, pitting on lap 35 for new Softs (red). Daniel started from P13 on used Soft tyres, pitting on lap 24 for new Hard (white) tyres and later on lap 45 for new Mediums.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "Barcelona is always a good race weekend to assess the competitiveness of the car and the team after the first couple of fly away races that are not always representative. The midfield is very close and any deviation leads to spectacular variations. But the result today is clear, even without the Safety Car, a few points could have been possible. We are not in line with the targets we have set ourselves. The test next week comes at a good moment to assess particular areas of the car in depth and look at important development items as we define our short-term and medium-term action plan to recover from a poor season start that does not alter our determination and our long-term objectives."
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean delivered their first double-points result of the season with their finishes of seventh and 10th, respectively in the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth round of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship Sunday at Circuit de Barcelona - Catalunya. It was the team's eighth double-points finish since joining the Formula One ranks in 2016.
Both Haas F1 Team drivers started the 66-lap event around the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn track on Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires as did most of the rest of the field, and they held their relative positions through to the opening round of pit stops that began on lap 19. Magnussen was up to sixth when he pitted on lap 24 for a set of Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and resumed 14th. Grosjean pitted three laps later from fourth for his set of mediums and maintained his position in the top-10 as the remainder of the field executed their first stops.
By lap 33, Grosjean and Magnussen were back to their original grid positions of seventh and eighth, respectively, before Magnussen was passed on lap 35 by the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat, dropping him momentarily to ninth. Magnussen regained the eighth position when he beat Kvyat out of the pits during their second stop for soft tires as the safety car was deployed for an incident involving Racing Point driver Lance Stroll and McLaren driver Lando Norris on lap 46. Grosjean made his second stop on the very next lap, also taking on a set of softs.
When the race returned to green on lap 53, with Grosjean seventh and Magnussen eighth, the two Rich Energy Haas F1 Team drivers touched briefly as Magnussen slipped past his teammate to take seventh place through the first turn. Magnussen held onto that position to the checkered flag. Meanwhile, Grosjean lost a spot on lap 60 to local hero, Spaniard Carlos Sainz, then another position a lap later to Kvyat. The Frenchman successfully held off the challenges of Toro Rosso driver Alexander Albon over the closing laps to claim 10th - the final points-paying position.
Today's results advanced the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team two positions to sixth in the constructors' standings, two points behind fifth-place Racing Point and two points ahead of seventh-place Alfa Romeo.
Guenther Steiner: "It's ended as being a little bit of a controversial weekend, but we've sorted it out - cleared the air between the drivers. That's the most important thing after their race. We maybe lost a couple of points, but we're all happy to move forward from here, everything is fine. It's been a good weekend points-wise, with getting two cars into the points. Hopefully we can learn a lot from the test here this week, so we can do the same in Monaco and Canada. At the moment it looks like they'll be a little bit more difficult for us, because of the track layouts, but I think we can still score points. The whole team did a very good job here this weekend and we come away with double points - happy."
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "It was a great execution of the race today by the team because we have to acknowledge that Haas and Toro Rosso looked stronger than us in terms of pace. It was difficult for us in the race to move forwards in terms of positions, but thanks to great timing of the pit-stop when the Safety Car came out, we gained a position, and excellent strategy going onto Softs moved us into P8 in the end.
"Carlos did a great drive with good overtaking. Lando unfortunately had a difficult race when he lost positions in Turn Three after a good start, while the contact with Stroll, in my opinion, was a racing incident.
"Overall, in terms of performance, it was encouraging to see that we definitely got closer to the top cars in the midfield when we compare our pace this weekend with the pace we had on a track with similar characteristics like China. So, thanks also for the great work at the factory to bring the aero updates here."
Otmar Szafnauer: "We've faced an uphill struggle this weekend and unfortunately points were out of reach today. It's one of those races where track position is especially important and it was difficult to make much progress in the early stages despite a solid opening lap from Sergio and Lance. Both cars were running line astern for a large part of the race until Lance was taken out of the race following an over-optimistic move by [Lando] Norris. Sergio was able to unlap himself under the safety car, but we simply didn't have the pace to challenge for points in the closing stages. We will take this one on the chin and focus on learning more about the car in the test next week so that we can come back stronger for Monaco and beyond."
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "It was a disappointing weekend where we never managed to express our potential. It is difficult to find some positives, as the first stint of the race was just a nightmare, but at least the last stint was the best part of the weekend. Circumstances didn't help and with Antonio's grid position and Kimi falling to the back in the opening lap, our race was effectively compromised. I would say that today's result belittles our real level: everything seemed to go against us this weekend, but it's important for the two days of testing ahead that we honestly assess our performance and get back to where we stood so far this season."
Guillaume Dezoteux (Head of Vehicle Performance): "The result is again not showing the full potential of our package. We had a strong first stint with both cars, being able to keep up with both Haas and opening a small gap to Carlos. On the second stint, Daniil was immediately able to pass Kimi and showed a strong performance on the prime tyre, overtaking Magnussen. Alex was struggling a bit more with quite a lot of tyre vibrations, but he was able to maintain the gap to the cars ahead.
"When the safety car came out, we were actually about to stop to fit our second set of prime tyres and attack the cars in front. It was looking very good but issues in radio communications with our crew meant we lost quite a lot of time during the operations. At the safety car restart, Daniil lost position to Carlos but he was able to attack Grosjean, finishing P9 and bringing home two points.
"On the positive side, today we showed a strong race pace and good tyre management, confirming our package is improving with the aero updates we brought here. We will keep pushing hard, the next races should also suit us quite well."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "The starting positions for the race were quite promising, Dany started from P9 with used options, and Alex started from P11 on the new option tyres. This worked well and both drivers had a good start: Alex moved up a position while Dany maintained his. The car showed a strong performance and the drivers did a really good job until the safety car came out, when we lost everything because of a radio miscommunication between the pit wall and the mechanics. Dany pitted first, although the mechanics understood it was Alex, therefore we had troubles with the correct tyres and lost a lot of time. As a result, we dropped a few positions on track. At the end of the race we finished with only one car in the points, which is very disappointing because we know we could have achieved more today."
Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director): "It was satisfying to get our second podium finish of the season in the race where teams brought updates. For a while it looked as though we might get all four of our cars into the points, but in the end, we just missed out on that, which was a shame, as Daniil and Alex had performed really well all weekend and the Toro Rosso car was again competitive in the mid field. Now we must simply carry on working as hard as possible with the aim of getting even better results in the coming races, maintaining the momentum we had here."
George Russell finished 17th and Robert Kubica 18th in the Spanish Grand Prix. Robert started 17th on the grid and George 19th both on the medium Pirelli tyre following a number of penalties for cars ahead.
Both drivers ran a two-stop race, pitting first for the soft tyres and once more for a new set of medium tyres with a stacked pitstop during the Safety Car.
Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer: Another difficult race for us but both drivers did well to avoid trouble and bring both cars home. The tyre compounds and conditions made numerous strategies viable with all three compounds being run at various times. The pitstop crew completed some very good stops and they continue to do a sterling job in difficult circumstances. Our attention now turns to the test where we will continue to develop the FW42.
Lewis Hamilton continued a record-breaking run for Mercedes by taking another win ahead of his team mate. The race looked set to be a combination of one and two stop strategies, but in the end this was influenced by a late safety car, giving the frontrunners a ‘free' pit stop.
All but one of the drivers stopped twice - most making their second stop behind the safety car - and there were also four different strategies in the top five.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was the first to commit to a two-stopper, followed by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, whose strategy was compromised by a flat-spot in a tussle for position at the first corner. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas also pitted as the safety car came out. All three used different strategies.
The safety car allowed Hamilton - who had made his first stop without losing the lead - to make a second stop without penalty, emerging in the lead once more. Several other drivers followed him, pitting under the lengthy safety car period.
Renault's Nico Hulkenberg made a one-stop strategy work, starting from the pit lane on the medium compound and then finishing 13th with the soft.
Conditions were warm today with track temperatures in excess of 40 degrees centigrade, following a weekend during which the weather fluctuated.
Mario Isola: "The safety car close to the end was the pivotal moment in the race when it came to tyre strategy, effectively ensuring that everyone did a two-stopper, and resetting the gaps so that there was a short sprint to the finish. From the start of the race, it seemed likely we would see a variety of one and two stop strategies, with all three compounds in play. In the end, it probably would have been quite tricky to one-stop, as there was some degree of wear on the soft and medium, at this very severe circuit in terms of energy loadings. Now we remain in Barcelona for the in-season test on Tuesday and Wednesday, when Ferrari and Racing Point will be fielding an additional car for us to test 2020 prototype tyres."
