The 2018 Spanish Grand Prix has been won by Lewis Hamilton as easy as he liked in a win he said rejuvenated him, and no wonder as he had plenty of time to think about how good life was out in front by as far as he was.
In all, it was a pretty dull race, enlivened on Lap One as Romain Grosjean ensuring one Haas car would piss off some of the rest of the field by dropping it on turn three in the middle of the pack, then proceeded to light up the tyres as he came across the track. He cleaned up Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly in the process. A warning to qualify better we suppose.
The rest of the race showed that a potentially faster car makes no difference if you have bad race management or unreliability. Ferrari, not for the first time, made the wrong call on strategy for Vettel, and of course the mechanical gremlins struck Kimi Raikkonen, who always seems to receive the spicier sausage from Ferrari.
Ferraris aside, not a great deal else happened, making that 11:10pm start time for Australians that little bit tougher. At least it’s Monaco next time.
There were good and bad performances down the field – nothing ground breaking but good enough – and as ever we attempt to sort them out with our Good, Bad and Ugly of the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. There was so much, it took us two days to compile it.
2018 Spanish Grand Prix – THE GOOD
LEWIS HAMILTON
After gaining and losing race wins on luck so far in 2018, the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix win was a welcome return to having the fastest car and sailing off into the distance for Hamilton and his Hamtima Army of fans.
Hamilton was already 7 seconds ahead of Vettel in second by the time the Ferrari driver stopped, and Hamilton dropped only to second during the pitstop window, which once over gave him a 10 second lead in front.
That lead was doubled in the second half of the race, and the gap of the Mercedes to the others in this race proves all the talk of the other two teams being faster is just talk for the time being.
VALTTERI BOTTAS
A solid hit out for the Finn, qualified second, finished second. Job done we suppose.
He lost out to Vettel on the first lap, and remained behind him after the first round of pitstops, never more than a couple of seconds behind.
Once he was gifted second place when Ferrari called in Vettel, he cruised to the finish for another second place, his third of the year, and the least disappointing.
MAX VERSTAPPEN
After an action packed 2018 Max Verstappen needed a race of quiet, solid achievement, and he did just that in Spain, and earned himself a podium as a bonus.
He saw off team mate Ricciardo in qualifying as he often does, and held fifth early, never far from the back of Kimi Raikkonen.
Max took advantage of a Raikkonen engine failure and a second Vettel pitstop to grab the final podium of the race.
KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Best of the rest in qualifying and race, another fine job for the Haas driver.
Although, possibly should be in ugly, and would have been if he didn’t finish after more high speed blocking shananigans in practice. And a hint of running his team mate off the road on lap 1 to cause the carnage.
He’s an F1 jerk and doesn’t seem to care.
CARLOS SAINZ
More solid points finishes for the Spaniard, with a little talk that a Red Bull may be his in the increasing event of Daniel Ricciardo buggering off for a Merc or Ferrari. Outqualified Hulkenberg too.
CHARLES LECLERC
More point for Sauber, and he is gradually killing off the career of Marcus Ericsson who qualified three places behind and finished nearly 20 seconds down the road on race day.
FERNANDO ALONSO
The Spaniard does it again, a solid P8 after dropping to 11th at the start. Pity the McLaren updates weren’t as ground breaking as some would hope.
2018 Spanish Grand Prix – THE BAD
ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Took out himself and three others on the first lap, just a few corners after the start, which happens from time to time, but it seems the worst could have been avoided it he hadn’t spun his wheels so madly creating a Days of Thunder smokescreen which never ends well, and didn’t for himself, Hulkenberg and Gasly.
Although there is a suggestion that his off was caused by serial F1 Jerk and team mate Kevin Magnussen running him too wide on Turn 3.
NICO HULKENBERG’
Qualified 16th, race ended before turn 4, another wasted event for the German. We’re big fans, but have given up on him ever getting the big drive elsewhere.
FERRARI
Turned a solid second and fourth into a fourth and DNF.
Not for the first time this year they called the strategy wrong by bringing in Vettel for a second time, and if there going to be an engine failure it was always going to be Kimi, who seems to get the worst of it this season for Ferrari. That’s despite him looking faster and feistier for the first time in a long time.
WILLIAMS
Spain certainly didn’t bring the improvements most of us are hoping for. They are a genuine back marker these days, and how sad. Should be praised for giving Robert Kubica a run in Practice, but he should have got the drive in the first place. Not that he could do that much with it by the looks. Stroll did finish ahead of some cars, but was almost 3 minutes behind at the chequered flag.
2018 Spanish Grand Prix – THE UGLY
SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Despite having what many think is the faster car, Vettel and Ferrari haven’t been able to take advantage. Vettel was pitted for a second time in Spain but failed to make an impression, stuck behind Max Verstappen for the last 20 odd laps on newer tyres.
Is now 17 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the Championship, and off the podium in the last three races.
KIMI RAIKKONEN
Suffered the worst of the Ferrari luck with a blown engine. May have got to the podium, but once again gets the worst of it.
DANIEL RICCIARDO
Spinning whilst under Virtual Safety Car is never great, and given the late race speed culminating in fastest lap, who knows what he could have done.
THE MARTINI / MINARDI MEDAL AND CHAVES / COLONI PLATE RETURN
Back by popular demand of one person is our awards for the best F1 Driver / Team for the 2018 season.
After each race we will assign points for the Good, Bad, and Ugly described above, and some other useful tidbits of Grand Prix statistics like Overtaking, Fastest Laps, and Retirements.
With offering points for good, and taking them off for bad, we were accused of being a little too negative last year, given very few drivers and teams made it into positive territory. This season we have revamped all of our many reader and fan.
The Martini / Minardi Medal goes to the best Driver / Team for the season..
The Chaves / Life F1 Plate goes to the worst Driver / Team for the season.
2018 SPANISH GRAND PRIX MARTINI MEDAL / CHAVES PLATE RESULTS
Here’s where we post the rolling results for the season. Note some will have zero points for being good and bad, others will not be named as they haven’t done anything good or bad.
Most statistics from the outstanding RaceFans website.
MARTINI MEDAL / CHAVES PLATE
| DRIVER | NEW TOTAL | SPAIN |
| HAMILTON | 15 | 6 |
| ALONSO | 15 | 3 |
| BOTTAS | 14 | 3 |
| VETTEL | 13 | 0 |
| MAGNUSSEN | 9 | 5 |
| LECLERC | 9 | 3 |
| RAIKKONEN | 8 | 0 |
| STROLL | 7 | 2 |
| RICCIARDO | 7 | 1 |
| SAINZ | 6 | 1 |
| PEREZ | 6 | 0 |
| GASLY | 5 | 0 |
| ERICSSON | 4 | 0 |
| HULKENBERG | 4 | -2 |
| HARTLEY | 2 | 0 |
| OCON | 1 | 1 |
| VERSTAPPEN | 0 | 4 |
| SIROTKIN | -1 | 0 |
| GROSJEAN | -2 | -3 |
THE MINARDI MEDAL / COLONI PLATE
| TEAM | NEW TOTAL | SPAIN |
| MERCEDES | 20 | 6 |
| FERRARI | 9 | -1 |
| RED BULL | 6 | 2 |
| HAAS | 4 | 3 |
| MCLAREN | 1 | 0 |
| FORCE INDIA | 1 | -1 |
| RENAULT | 1 | -1 |
| SAUBER | 0 | 0 |
| TORO ROSSO | -2 | -1 |
| WILLIAMS | -6 | -1 |
THE POINTS EXPLAINED….
2 Points for featuring in the GOOD (Driver/Team) – as above
-1 Point for BAD or UGLY (Driver/Team) – as above
1 Point for Outqualifying Teammate (Driver) – as per Grid
1 Point for Pole Position (Driver/Team) – Hamilton/Mercedes
2 Points for Race Win (Driver/Team) – Hamilton/Mercedes
1 Point for Podium (Driver/Team) – Bottas/Mercedes – Verstappen/Red Bull
-1 Point for Last on Grid (Driver/Team) – Hartley/Toro Rosso
-1 Point for Penalty Taken for Mechanical (Team) – NA
1 Point for Top Non Big 3 Car in Top 6 in Qualifying (Driver/Team) – Magnussen/Haas
1 Point for Top Non Big 3 Car in Top 6 in Race (Driver/Team) – Magnussen/Haas
1 Point for Fastest Lap (Driver/Team) – Ricciardo/Red Bull
1 Point for Most Places Gained on Lap One (Driver) – Stroll
1 Point for Most Places Gained in Race (Driver) – Hartley
1 Point/-1 Point for Best/Worst Pitstop (Team) – William/Force India
-1 Point for 1st Retirement (Driver/Team) – Grosjean/Haas – Hulkenberg/Renault – Gasly/Toro Rosso
-1 Point for Avoidable Accident (Driver) – Grosjean
