BARCELONA REVIEW BY BEN STEVENS
Sunday
Race day in Barcelona brought with
it two things – beautiful weather and
Verstappen-mania.
Seriously, there was more orange in the
Circuit de Catalunya grandstands than on
the women at a bodybuilding competition.
All eyes were on the 19-year-old to somehow
repeat his miraculous victory from last year
– boy, were they set up for disappointment.
Out on the first lap, the last domino in
a chain set off by Valtteri Bottas, this was
not his day. No, this particular Spanish
Grand Prix belonged to Lewis Hamilton,
who despite his sub-par start managed
to take the win with an ambitious tyre
strategy that unlike his haircut, he was able
to pull off.
And while not every Spanish Grand
Prix can be quite as dramatic as last year’s,
this was far from a dud with the battle out
front. There is almost nothing to separate
Mercedes and Ferrari, and it’s interesting
to see how Sebastian Vettel’s post-race
demeanour has gone from “just happy to
be here” every time he makes the podium
to rueful, if not outright frustrated if he
doesn’t win.
What’s more is that while the cars
have been even, and the drivers have been
even, the race showed us their development
is equally apace, and that makes for an
increasingly fascinating championship.