Spanish GP: Race - Re-Cap & Results

SPANISH GRAND PRIX - RACE

It was a first lap shocker for everyone watching when Lewis Hamilton ran through the grass and spun out before hitting Rosberg's car in the process, taking them both out of the race before they could even fully get around the track once. Both drivers were angry and disappointed as it meant nothing good for the team. Nico Rosberg's winning streak was also over. Lots of drama followed, with multiple people pointing the blame at either driver. Some said Hamilton was making an illegal move on Rosberg, while some say Rosberg shoved Hamilton into the grass

    With both Mercedes drivers out, it was both Ferraris and Red Bulls taking to the front of the leading pack, with Williams and Force India close behind, along with Sainz in the Toro Rosso. Max Verstappen was quick to battle to get past both Raikkonn and Vettel but Daniel Ricciardo was the one leading the race.

    Force India, who have recently installed multiple upgrades to their cars, were looking to have a promising race, but it was over fairly quickly for Nico Hulkenberg. An oil leak saw him retire from the race. Hulkenberg also retired on Lap 1 of the Russian grand prix after a collision involving Gutierrez and Haryanto. 

    Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean were the last two retirements of the race. It wasn't the way Alonso wanted his home race to go. But a software issue shut his engine down and he could no longer race. Grosjean retired with a brake issue, following a nasty trip through the gravel.

    With a little over 20 laps to go, it was Max Verstappen leading the race, with Kimi Raikkonen close behind. A little further back, Sebastian Vettel was battling his old team-mate, Ricciardo. With every lap, Raikkonen tried hard to close the gap to Verstappen and was even coming close enough to try and pass, but it didn't seem to be going in Raikkonen's favour. 

    In the end, it was a shocking and remarkable 1st win for 18-year-old, Max Verstappen. Not only was it his first weekend with Red Bull, and his first podium finish, but he won his first Grand Prix and also became the youngest F1 race winner in history, beating Vettel's previous record. Verstappen won at exactly 18 years and 227 days. Vettel had won at 21 years and 73 days. Kimi Raikkonen finished in second and Sebastian Vettel in third.

    Carlos Sainz finished his home-race in 6th, which not only is a great result for the Toro Rosso team, but also Sainz's best finish of his F1 career. New team-mate, Kvyat was able to grab the last point by passing Gutierrez in the final laps and finishing in 10th.

    Post-Race, it was deemed that what happened between Hamilton and Rosberg was a racing incident and no further action would be taken. However, a scuffle between Renault team-mates, Magnussen and Palmer during the race, which resulted in both cars touching, ended up with Magnussen getting a post-race penalty which demoted his finish to 15th and earned him 2 penalty points to his license. 

RESULTS: 

1. Max Verstappen / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER / Netherlands / + 25 Points

2. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / + 18 Points

3. Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / + 15 Points

4. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER / Australia / + 12 Points

5. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland / + 10 Points

6. Carlos Sainz / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / Spain / + 8 Points

7. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / + 6 Points

8. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil / + 4 Points

9. Jenson Button / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain / + 2 Points

10. Daniil Kvyat / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / Russia / + 1 Points

11. Esteban Gutierrez / Haas-Ferrari / Mexico 

12. Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden

13. Jolyon Palmer / Renault-Renault / Great Britain

14. Felipe Nasr / Sauber-Ferrari / Brazil

15. Kevin Magnussen* / Renault-Renault / Denmark

16. Pascal Wehrlein / Manor-Mercedes / Germany

17. Rio Haryanto / Manor-Mercedes / Indonesia

RETIRED - Romain Grosjean / Haas-Ferrari / France / Brakes

RETIRED - Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Honda / Spain / Software Issue

RETIRED - Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany / Oil Leak

RETIRED - Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / Collision

RETIRED - Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany / Collision

* - Magnussen demoted due to post-race penalty for causing a collision with Palmer

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

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