Dutchman Max Verstappen made history at the Spanish Grand Prix by becoming the youngest driver to win a Formula One race, in which Red Bull and Ferrari had fun without the presence of the Mercedes, whose drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg they put an end to the German team’s ten-game winning streak.
Sunday’s incident between the German driver, winner of the first four races of the season and outstanding leader of the World Championship, and the British driver allowed F1 to regain, for a day, the dose of emotion that it seemed to have lost in the last two years under the dictatorship of the silver bullets.
A hegemony that does not seem to be in danger, despite what happened in the fifth round of the championship. Even more so after the double achieved in the qualifying session on Saturday, in which Hamilton and Rosberg shared the two places on the first line of departure and showed signs of their superiority.
The only doubt resides in knowing if the pilots of the German team are able to heal the injuries of the accident they suffered in the third corner of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
From the public statements of both it seems that it will not pass to greater and another war like the one that broke out in 2014 after the Spa Francorchamps race, in which Hamilton was knocked out after hitting Rosberg, will not start.
Despite what happened, the Teuton continues to command the World Cup with 39 points ahead of Raikkonen, who has ousted Hamilton in second place, who, in this way, occupies third position in the general.
Without the Mercedes on the track, the Spanish Grand Prix was without a doubt the most exciting race so far this season, in which the youngest driver on the grid, who made his debut at the wheel of a Red Bull, completed an unforgettable Sunday.
At 18, Verstappen not only made history in Montmeló, but silenced the voices that criticized Red Bull’s decision to give him the alternative in place of Russian Daniil Kvyat, who returned to Toro Rosso with one point.
The Dutchman took advantage of the step forward taken by the Austrian team in Barcelona, where on qualifying day both he and Daniel Ricciardo passed the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, although they were still far from the Mercedes.
In fact, Ferrari’s irregularity was a constant throughout the weekend. Able to get within a few hundredths of the silver bullets in free runs, the Italian team’s cars missed the mark on Saturday, something that kept them from victory on Sunday.
Vettel was wrong with the race strategy, three stops, and did not take advantage of the absence of Mercedes on the track. The four-time World Champion was not only able to argue with Verstappen, but also saw his teammate overtake him on the podium.
If in the fight for second place in the Constructors’ World Cup things have been even between Ferrari and Red Bull, in the middle zone of the classification the differences are still minimal.
The battle between Williams and Toro Rosso has been joined by Force India, which in Barcelona rose a step with a meritorious seventh position from Mexican Sergio Pérez, just behind the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), another of the names of the weekend .
The Spaniard completed his best weekend since driving a Formula One race. Perhaps motivated by Verstappen’s promotion to Red Bull, the Madrid-born culminated a brilliant start that allowed him to climb to sixth position, showing that, if his car is capable of maintaining reliability, you can fight for points in every championship race.
If Verstappen and Sainz were the face, the Spanish Fernando Alonso (McLaren) the cross. The double world champion, who went through the Q3 cut-off for the first time this season so far this season, saw his progression slow down and ran out of points after his Honda engine said enough on lap 47 when he occupied twelfth position.
History repeated itself for the Asturian, who was unable to finish the Spanish GP race last year due to a brake failure on his McLaren.
The Spaniard, who arrived in Spain optimistic after scoring his first points in Russia, did not quite find the pace of the race at any time, something that deprived him of being close to the cars that are fighting for points.
After the historic race lived in Spain, the Formula One circus does not move from Europe and in two weeks it will be installed in the urban curves of the Monaco Grand Prix, where Mercedes will seek to recover the hierarchy lost in Montmeló. EFE
Red Bull and Ferrari have fun at Verstappen’s coronation
