F1 | Spanish GP: analysis of the race

New appointment, new Mercedes triumph. For the fifth time in the season, the "Star" company managed to win the stage thanks to the victory of Lewis Hamilton, who dominated the race from start to finish, repeating a script already seen at this start of the season . Despite the entire front row conquered on Saturday, however, a one-two finish did not arrive for Mercedes, given third place for Valtteri Bottas, who was sucked into the very early stages after a bad sprint when the traffic lights went out. Max Verstappen was once again separating the two W11s at the finish line, doing well at exploiting any opportunity to gain positions and bring home important results.

Even though they finished the race more than a lap away, at Racing Point you can't feel dissatisfied with the result, thanks to the fourth and fifth place finishes which allow the team to score a good day of points and make a jump in the standings builders. The race of the two RP20s is perhaps the best practical example to understand how this sixth round of the season can be interpreted from multiple strategic perspectives, given that different paths had been taken with the two drivers. Behind them was a positive Carlos Sainz Jr., skilled in exploiting the two-stop tactic by attacking in decisive moments: a performance that allows the young Spaniard to equal his best result on his home track, where in his time with Toro Rosso he managed to obtain an amazing sixth position. Excellent work also by Sebastian Vettel, good at making the single-stop strategy work as best as possible despite some indecision on the wall, which allowed him to finish in seventh place at the checkered flag. If at Ferrari we can see some positive aspects on a test bench like the Barcelona track, there is undoubtedly still the bitterness over the withdrawal of teammate, Charles Leclerc, who ended up spinning following an electrical problem on his single-seater . Concluding the top ten were Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris, part of a small group that fought for the last available points towards the end of the race.

Just outside the top ten was a disappointed Daniel Ricciardo, whose race was particularly interesting especially when compared to that of Sebastian Vettel, as both were protagonists of a single-stop race, albeit with rather different results due to the choices made by the two teams. Beyond the mere result, it was not a particularly satisfactory appointment for Renault, given that for the first time in the season the French team was unable to finish with even one of the two cars in the points: as admitted by himself team principal, the RS20 is poorly suited to circuits of this type, so it was difficult to expect that the transalpine single-seater could repeat the performances of Silverstone. It was Daniil Kvyat who divided the two Renaults, the last pawn of the large group of drivers who fought for a place in the points at the end of the race. Once again it was a difficult day for Ferrari-powered customers, never really fighting to finish in the top ten, despite Kimi Raikkonen's good performance on Saturday: the Finn was the protagonist of several duels during the race, but unfortunately he did not he managed to achieve a useful position to gain some points in the constructors' standings. Behind him the duo formed by the Danish Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and the other Alfa Romeo Racing driver, Antonio Giovinazzi, who was penalized by starting from the last spot on the grid following a disappointing qualifying. The two Williams were further away and were not the protagonists of a particularly exciting weekend in absolute terms on the Spanish track, given the difficulties also in accessing Q2, an objective achieved in the previous rounds. However, the fact remains positive that during the race he managed to compete with the closest rivals in his own bracket, turning various episodes of the race in his favor by using some different solutions in terms of strategy.

Mercedes: return to success

The Barcelona circuit has always been a point of reference for teams given its characteristics which test all aspects of the car, from the engine to the aerodynamics, including the mechanical part. The long straights, combined with both high and low speed corners, allow the teams to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various cars and it is no coincidence that, beyond the temperature issue, the Spanish track is home to the location of the winter tests. On a track on which the best single-seater of the lot tends to win, leaving aside particular circumstances, it should not be surprising that the triumph was the Mercedes W11, which in this start to the championship has shown that it has something more than its rivals, both in qualifying and in the race. Only extreme conditions, such as those of the second round at Silverstone with particularly high temperatures, very soft tires and high pressures, managed to put the "Star" car into crisis: characteristics that did not appear in the Spanish round, thus making it more the work of the German team is simple, especially in tire management.

After the pole position achieved on Saturday, work was all downhill for Lewis Hamilton, author of a very intelligent race in which he was able to best balance the moments in which it was necessary to keep the pace high to guarantee better management of the tires and those in which it was necessary to push in order to create a safety gap from the most fearsome rivals. On the contrary, Valtteri Bottas' race brought with it many more obstacles, essentially due to the bad start he had, so much so that he lost two positions which would later prove to be fundamental in the continuation of the Grand Prix. Going in order, however, let's retrace the very first phases of the race, trying to understand how the races of the two Mercedes drivers had taken completely different paths after just a few metres.

The Barcelona track is undoubtedly among those that offer the greatest chances to drivers who have qualified on the second or third row to recover some positions at the start, thanks to its straight which allows them to exploit the slipstream for longer. Over the years, in fact, it has not been unusual to see drivers starting from third or fourth position exploit this characteristic to even manage to take the lead at the first corner, as happened to Fernando Alonso in 2011. Although it represents an advantage, starting from pole position is therefore not always a guaranteed synonym of getting through the first lap unscathed, which is why, especially in Barcelona, ​​it is very important to be able to combine a perfect sprint with a clever positioning strategy, in order to block the opponents behind you. From this point of view, Lewis Hamilton had managed to manage everything perfectly thanks to an excellent clutch release which had allowed him to gain the useful space to take cover from his rivals already in the very first metres. On the contrary, Valtteri Bottas' race had become complicated precisely in the space of those few meters leading to turn 1, thanks to an unfortunate sprint that had forced him to look over his shoulder rather than ahead of him. Taking a look at the images from the helicopter provided by the international directorate, it is possible to notice how the Finn, realizing that he had not started in the best way, had tried to move towards his left, on one side to try to close Max Verstappen who, on the contrary, had started very well, on the other to catch up with his teammate and defend himself. However, the Dutchman's excellent clutch release had brought him into a position where it was very risky for Bottas to close him, given that the number 33 had almost reached the height of the rear tires of the Mercedes number 77: this, combined with the the fact that Verstappen had managed to catch Hamilton's body meant that it was easy for the Hasselt driver to gain second position under braking, also braking on the cleanest part of the track which guaranteed greater grip.

However, the problems for the Mercedes Finn were not over yet, because while he was busy trying to defend himself against his Red Bull colleague, another threat appeared behind him, namely Lance Stroll. The Canadian, in fact, had been the author of an excellent sprint, which had given him not only the possibility of immediately passing his teammate, Sergio Perez, but also of choosing the most suitable trajectory to make the most of the trail game . From the images of the international director it is evident that Stroll was very skilled in making the most of this phenomenon, remaining behind Verstappen and following his movements until the last possible meter, before moving to his right where the space was completely empty. A very clever maneuver, on the one hand because it had maximized the slipstream of the Dutchman from Red Bull, on the other because he had partially managed to "hide" himself from Bottas' mirrors, who probably didn't expect to find him on his right a few tenths of a second later. Looking at the images, in fact, it is possible to notice how Bottas reacted late to the Canadian's movement, thus leaving him enough space to come alongside and make a decisive attack into Turn 1 to conquer virtual third position. In short, if it is true that on such a long straight it was difficult to manage the drivers behind him, number 77 certainly made his job easier, not only because of a slow start, but also because he reacted late to a situation that with a little more aggression he probably could have managed differently.

Having concluded the first lap in command and fourth place respectively, the priorities for the two Star drivers were therefore different. For Hamilton it was simply a matter of managing the pace according to the most suitable rhythms, trying to safeguard the tires to get as far as possible while always keeping an eye on what was happening behind him, while for Bottas the objective was to quickly overtake Stroll and get back into a valid area to attack or play strategy against Verstappen. For about the first ten laps, the six-time world champion had maintained a rather high pace, so much so that the Dutchman from Red Bull had managed to keep himself at a close distance, perhaps too close, given that from the same garage they had warned him to do not stay too close to it in order not to damage the front covers. A deliberate choice on the part of the Englishman, who aimed to manage his tires as much as possible, lapping at a pace of 1:24, certainly much higher than his possibilities. The Spanish track, in fact, is a particularly demanding track on the tires due to its conformation, especially in the fast corners like 3 and 9, but also in the last sector, where the rear tires tend to overheat and end up out of temperature and accelerating its degradation. From this point of view, analyzing the telemetry it is possible to see how Hamilton had been very cautious in these sections, raising his foot in order to reduce stress. Another example, perhaps also the simplest to show, is that of the braking at turn 10, very deep but extremely slow: in qualifying it is not difficult to see drivers who, to obtain maximum performance and travel as little road as possible, tend to accelerate further when rotating, thus adding load on the rear tires which often end up going out of temperature. If on a single lap the phenomenon is still manageable, in the race the behavior adopted by the drivers must be completely different, especially in the early stages of the race where the fuel load would amplify the problems leading to faster and more accentuated tire degradation. In these situations, it was clear that Hamilton only accelerated at the exit with the car completely straight, in order to reduce the stress on the tires as much as possible and extend their life, thus guaranteeing the possibility of leaving more doors open in terms of strategy.

After the first ten steps dedicated exclusively to tire management, however, the time had come for the six-time world champion to start building a small but important advantage to take cover at the moment of the stop, thus being able to calmly analyze the situation and choose what would be the most suitable strategy to repel any attacks. And so it was that suddenly the Englishman had lowered his times by almost a second, starting to gain tenths after tenths compared to both Verstappen and his teammate, while still keeping an eye on tire saving in order not to exploit the tires excessively to continue extending the stint for as long as possible. The management of the first phases of the race had therefore been perfect, with an excellent balance between moments of management and attack, so much so that in just over eleven laps from the moment he started to push, Hamilton had managed to take his lead about seven and a half seconds over the Dutchman from Red Bull. Paradoxically, however, the choice of how the race would proceed was not so much in the hands of Lewis, but of Red Bull. The Anglo-Austrian team's decision to call Verstappen back to the pits during the twenty-first lap had left the Mercedes strategists faced with a doubt. It was clear that Lewis still had something to give during that first stint and that the tires had not shown any particular signs of fatigue, as demonstrated by the excellent times recorded up to that point, as well as that the gap gained in the previous laps would have allowed to stay on track without the immediate danger of suffering a possible undercut from Verstappen. Undoubtedly, moreover, if there had really been a need, it would have been enough to adopt a more aggressive mapping on the engine side and exploit what was left of the tyres. The choice, therefore, was between continuing and attempting the single-stop strategy, or following the choice of the Red Bull colleagues, bringing forward the pit stop and moving to a two-stop strategy. Regardless of what the simulations said, the most sensible choice was undoubtedly not to take any risks and go and cover the closest rivals, copying their moves and keeping a safe distance. Although the Hasselt driver actually managed to gain a few seconds, also due to a not extremely quick stop by the Mercedes men, the advantage gained during the first stint had put the six-time world champion safe from any eventuality , allowing him to get back on track with a reassuring gap. The objective, at that point, was only one, that is to manage, so much so that if in the first part of the race Hamilton had exploited more powerful engine maps such as "strat 7", in the second stint Lewis had independently switched to a more conservative choice like “strat 12”.

Considering that the strategists of the Anglo-Austrian team had decided to bring forward the first stop, also to please their driver who had repeatedly highlighted the poor condition of his tyres, it was reasonable to expect that Verstappen would not have been able to finish the race on the same set of medium tyres, so he would have had to stop for a second time, as actually happened during the forty-first lap. Also playing in the Englishman's favor was the lapped traffic, which clearly slowed down the young Dutchman, causing him to lose several seconds. If, however, at the end of the first stint at Mercedes they reacted immediately by calling their driver back to the pits, the same could not be said for the second stretch of the race in which, having a still satisfactory pace on their side and the fact that from there within a few laps Verstappen would once again find himself in the traffic of a group of lapped drivers, it was decided to continue for a few more laps. A wise choice, because by exploiting these various factors, paradoxically by staying out the six-time champion had also managed to increase his virtual advantage over his rivals, bringing a total of around ten seconds at the moment of the stop, for which Hamilton had opposed his will of the team asking for an additional set of medium tires to be fitted instead of the soft ones. Even in this case it was an understandable decision, on the one hand because evidently the feeling that the Englishman had found with that specific compound was better than that with the soft, on the other because he still had almost twenty laps to go the medium seemed like a versatile choice that could cover a wide range of situations, including the entry of the Safety Car. Given the large advantage available and the excellent track position which had allowed him to limit the time lost in traffic, Lewis had thus had the opportunity to control the last stint of the race in the best possible way, so much so that he allowed himself to use a extremely conservative as "strat 14 save" without particular repercussions in chronometric terms, thus reaching the finish line with an overall advantage of over 24 seconds and achieving his fourth victory of the season.

Valtteri Bottas, on the other hand, has a lot to complain about, who after the bad start was forced into a comeback race, exactly as happened in Hungary. Having slipped to fourth place after turn 1 had undoubtedly complicated his race, above all because this had left the field free for his teammate to freely dictate the pace according to his needs and accumulate a small but fundamental advantage. In fact, after managing to overtake Lance Stroll at the beginning of the fifth lap, the Finn was already almost four seconds behind Hamilton and around two and a half seconds behind Verstappen, to which a further consideration had to be added. The first phases of the life of the tire are also the most important ones and it is no coincidence that several drivers in the first phases of this event had chosen to maintain a rather high pace: those four laps, although in absolute terms were not that many, very they had probably also partially compromised the health of the tyres, putting him in difficulty if he decided to extend the stint and aim for a single-stop strategy. From this point of view, during the first part of the race the engineers of car 77 were extremely precise, communicating to the driver references and times regarding which sections he should be more cautious in terms of tire saving, such as turn 3 or the areas of traction in the last sector, which put the longevity of the tires to the test. Thinking about the long distance, it was also for this reason that the Finn, despite potentially having a better pace than Verstappen, could not get too close to whoever was in front of him, as the only thing he would probably have achieved would have been to stay for a long time in the slipstream, further damaging the tires, given the limited overtaking opportunities that the Catalan track offers. Only towards the nineteenth lap, when the Dutchman from Red Bull found himself in a situation of evident difficulty in managing the tyres, did the Mercedes wall decide to go on the attack, asking Valtteri to close the gap. A reasoned move, which aimed to put pressure on the Red Bull pit wall from several points of view: although Verstappen had been quite clear on the radio about the terrible state of the tires asking to stop, in fact, the strategists of the Anglo-Austrian team had to at the same time keeping an eye on what was happening behind you. In the case of an early stop, Max would certainly have ended up in traffic, wasting time and leaving the field free for Bottas to attempt a possible overcut.

Having lost this possibility, at that point the Star wall had also decided to continue with a two-stop race, as the wear suffered in the first stint and the difference in pace compared to its closest rivals had made it more complicated to be able to the single-stop strategy worked, calling Bottas back to the pits just two laps after Verstappen. The second stint of the race was not that different from the first, having to balance tire consumption with the need to push to close the four-second gap that had been created with respect to second position: in order to preserve the tires , continuous updates were provided from the pits regarding which engine mapping to use, in which corners he should make the most savings or which were the areas in which he had to be more cautious in the traction phase. All this had brought us towards the conclusion of the second stint of the race, where also thanks to the lapped traffic, the driver from Nastola had managed to get just over two seconds behind his Dutch colleague, creating the first real concrete possibility of trying a undercut and gain the position. If for the first pit stop the unknown was that of ending up in traffic, in this case the problem would not have arisen again, as after the stop the track would have been virtually almost free, with all the space necessary to attempt a fast lap and take second position. This time too, however, the Red Bull strategists had read the situation well, recalling Verstappen for his second and final stop and fitting him with medium tyres.

It therefore makes us wonder why Mercedes hadn't taken advantage of the opportunity, especially considering that Bottas was also in traffic at the right moment to stop, so surely even by going long he would have lost a few seconds. To clarify this point it is important to analyze three points, namely what happened during the forty-first lap, the weather and the simulations carried out by the Stella strategists during the race. First of all, at the beginning of the forty-first lap, both drivers found themselves in lapped traffic, so managing to extricate themselves from the group on such a narrow circuit as that of Barcelona was not at all easy: one aspect, however, stands out more than all, namely the fact that in the very first meters of that lap, the Mercedes wall had asked Bottas to change mapping and move to Strat 5, one of the most powerful available in the race, which led to the assumption that perhaps the team was preparing to stop. Undoubtedly, given the small gap, Valtteri could also have brought forward the stop by a few laps before that fateful forty-first lap, but clearly the engineers were looking for the best compromise between possible gain and length of the stint. Secondly, like other teams, the German team also expected heavy downpours to arrive in the final part of the race, so much so as to force the drivers to stop again to fit wet tyres, so they would have to stay out until the right moment to returning could have been a winning decision. At the same time, if the rain had not arrived, Mercedes' real-time simulations carried out during the race suggested that the soft compound could be the best solution for the last part of the race and that, despite the initial disadvantage, Bottas could have being in a position to push and attempt an attack on Verstappe at the end, also because sooner or later the Dutchman would have been involved in lapped traffic again. Having missed the ideal moment to stop and attempt the undercut, at that point the Stella strategists had relied precisely on that data, keeping their driver on the track for a few more laps before calling him back for a final stint all on the attack. From a certain point of view, the idea had actually worked, given that Verstappen had only been able to push for a few laps on new tires before having to run into traffic again and concentrate on managing them, so the potential disadvantage of staying out like this it had been partially contained for a long time.

A stop came during the forty-eighth lap, when there were just under twenty to go and the virtual gap to Verstappen stood at around seven seconds. Complicating the Finn's comeback, however, were two factors: on the one hand the traffic, which in some way would have also penalized Bottas himself, on the other the performance of the tyres, which were not meeting the engineers' expectations, so much so that no more than a few laps after the pit stop the same number 77, when asked specifically, replied that if he had started to push more intensely he would have felt a significant drop in the tyres. Aware that, given the conditions, being able to regain second place would have been almost impossible without external events, the German strategists had also pulled out all the stops, concentrating instead on obtaining the additional point for the fastest lap, which was then won in the final stages. turns. Beyond the strategic errors and his inconsistent race conduct, however, the Finnish driver certainly has a lot to complain about, especially for a negative start which once again penalized him heavily, exactly as happened in Hungary.

Red Bull: Verstappen is a safety

Considering the different characteristics of the track and the return to more "traditional" compounds and pressures compared to the previous week, thinking of being able to repeat the Silverstone exploit in Barcelona too would probably have been unrealistic. Despite this, Red Bull still had the hope of being able to stay as close as possible to its Mercedes rivals and perhaps take advantage of some particular race situation to gain positions. Even if the victory didn't come, the second place achieved thanks to Max Verstappen can still be considered a satisfactory result thanks to the excellent race management of the Dutch driver and his engineers, while there are certainly some more considerations to be made for his teammate, penalized by a strategy that didn't bear fruit.

At the start, Verstappen had been extremely skilled in making the most of his chances thanks to a good sprint which had allowed him to get into a position where it would have been extremely complicated for Bottas to completely close the door on him, also given the limited space available . Furthermore, this had also guaranteed the young Dutchman the opportunity to make full use of the slipstream provided by Hamilton in front of him, in order to arrive at the turn 1 braking not only on the cleanest line, but also in the best conditions to brake all the way. last and thus effectively gain second position.

Also undoubtedly working in his favor was the fact that Max was not the only driver capable of overtaking the Mercedes Finn in the very early stages, but also Lance Stroll, who on paper was a less worrying threat: those four laps behind the Canadian from Racing Point they had thus given the Hasselt driver the opportunity to gain those two and a half seconds to protect himself from a possible attack in the immediately following laps, in which it would also have been possible to use the DRS. Four laps that proved to be fundamental not only from the timing point of view itself, but also from that of race management. Analyzing the times of the first ten laps, in fact, it is easy to see how Hamilton was maintaining a fairly high pace in order to preserve the tires as much as possible to extend the stint, while still keeping Verstappen at close range, almost always under two seconds . A gap that also worried the Red Bull engineers, because by staying so close to the race leader, the Dutchman was suffering the negative effects of remaining in dirty air for a prolonged period, namely tire fatigue. Without those four laps spent behind Stroll, Bottas would most likely not only have made himself a much more substantial threat, but would have also pushed Verstappen himself to push further on the tyres, accelerating their degradation in dirty air. An effect which, however, had made itself felt, so much so that after about ten laps Verstappen himself had begun to express via radio his difficulties in managing the single-seater due to the increasing degradation of the tyres, which was becoming more and more marked with the passing of the laps.

The Dutchman himself had made no secret of this in the following laps, explicitly clarifying his thoughts on the fact that the tires were now at their limit and that the further the stint continued, the more time would be lost. Clearly, however, as much as the driver's vision is fundamental, the strategists in the pits had to deal with a more complex situation, that is, being able to find the right opportunity to avoid letting their driver end up in traffic after the stop and at the same time don't give Bottas behind him the opportunity to attempt an overcut with the track completely clear. In fact, until the end of the twentieth lap, the main problem for the engineers of the Anglo-Austrian team was represented by the presence of the Racing Point duo in the pit stop window, which did not allow them to anticipate Verstappen's stop without causing him to end up in traffic. . A detail impossible for the Red Bull engineers to take into consideration, also because beyond the time lost, in the event of a battle with the two RP20s this would have compromised the integrity of the tires in an extremely delicate phase, especially considering that the second race stint should have been extended by a few laps to compensate for the early stop. Despite the driver's understandable complaints, the pit wall had managed to manage the situation in the best possible way, hitting the perfect moment to call his driver back to the pits without any complications at the exit, which had also allowed him to virtually gain a few seconds taking advantage of the new tyre.

Thanks to this small but substantial gap available, Verstappen was able to manage the second stint of the race with greater freedom, finding the right compromise between tire saving and maintaining a pace that allowed him to keep the drivers behind him at a safe distance . A stable and comfortable situation, at least until the moment in which, around the thirty-sixth lap, the Dutchman found himself facing a rather crowded group of pilots to lap, with all the difficulties of the case considering that the latter were in fight each other for position. Considering that, in any case, the time for the second pit stop would soon arrive, in order to overtake those lapped as quickly as possible from the garage they had communicated to number 33 not to carry out any more lift-offs in turns 5 and 7, in addition to concentrating more on pure pace than on tire management. A prudent choice, as was that of the Red Bull wall, which during the forty-first lap had called Max back for the last stop of the race, freeing him from traffic and preventing a possible counter-move by Mercedes, which in turn could have anticipated the pit stop by the Finn and attempt an undercut to take second place. This also allowed the Dutchman to gain a few more seconds on new tyres, which would have guaranteed him the possibility of managing the final part of the race differently. An advantage that proved to be fundamental, which the Mercedes driver would not be able to mend, thus ensuring Verstappen a deserved second final position.

Alexander Albon's race was very different, heavily influenced by strategy. After a good start, in which he also managed to attack Sergio Perez without however being successful, the Anglo-Thai driver struggled to keep the pace of the two Racing Points, until he ended up with a gap of around three seconds after fifteen laps . Among other things, as in the first race at Silverstone, Albon had started to feel strange vibrations coming from the tyres, although they didn't actually seem to be a driving problem. Although these two factors could have contributed in some way to Red Bull's choice, it remains difficult to understand why the team's strategists had decided to recall the Anglo-Thai driver to the pits after only sixteen laps, fitting the hard tyre, a compound which in free practice on Friday he had not provided any exciting indications. In addition to having brought forward the stop by several laps, the team had also sent him back into the traffic, which made it even more difficult to understand the strategy adopted: if the objective was to make the most of the harder compound, first of all the team should have sent the pilot back to clean air. To do otherwise would have meant not only nullifying the advantage of the new tyre, with all the time wasted in navigating through the riders to pass, but also damaging a set of tires which in theory should have lasted until the end of the race. The doubt that comes to mind, therefore, is that the Red Bull strategists had decided to "sacrifice" the Anglo-Thai driver's race to understand how the harder compound behaved in track conditions different from those of free practice and if it could also be a valid solution for Verstappen, who was in the leading positions at the time.

A game that wasn't worth it, in all senses, because the hard tire hadn't given the answers the team was looking for, proving to be in line with what the sensations of Friday had been. Although in absolute terms it was not a disastrous compound, which certainly would have reached the end anyway, Albon's growing difficulties in managing increasingly annoying understeer phenomena had pushed the Anglo-Austrian team to review their plans for the race, recalling their driver back to the pits a second time in order to fit a new set of yellow stripe tires and shuffle the cards on the table again. Even though he was almost four seconds away from Carlos Sainz Jr., who had managed to overtake him on the track by exploiting the advantage of the difference between the two compounds, the team's strategists had probably assessed that the only way to actually be able to recover at least the position lost was to stop and try an undercut: a move that would have worked if the Woking team had not reacted immediately by recalling the Spanish driver in turn, sending him back onto the track with less than a tenth of an advantage over rival Red Bull.

Even if the strategy hadn't worked entirely, this had allowed the young Anglo-Thai to get closer to McLaren's number 55, enough to attempt an attack, also taking advantage of the advantage of having tires already up to temperature. After several crossings of trajectory and attempts, also thanks to a move at the limit, the Spaniard managed to maintain his position, gaining a few tenths to secure himself from a possible return by Albon, which however never occurred, also thanks to the being stuck behind Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages. The eighth place finish certainly leaves a sense of bitterness for a race in which the Anglo-Thai had to pay the price for a strategy that did not bear fruit, so much so that he even lost two positions. Although some factors actually play on his side, it is however worth underlining how Alex was missing in the decisive moments, see the duel with Sainz and the one with Vettel, failing to find a spark which, on the contrary, had been one of the team's strong points. his previous appointments.

Ferrari: a race of strategy

Arriving in Spain for the sixth round of the world championship, Ferrari were well aware that the Barcelona track would put the car to the test, also showing all its weak points. Although on paper it didn't look like one of the simplest events, the good performances shown at Silverstone in terms of competitiveness and tire management had given the Italian team a pinch of confidence, in the hope of being able to compete with the best teams in the midfield. , especially Racing Point and McLaren.

The Catalan circuit is made up of three sectors which present and reward different characteristics, such as top speed on the long straight, stability of the single-seaters at an aerodynamic level in fast corners and when entering slower corners, as well as the mechanical part, both front which followed, in the last half-time, one of the most complicated and tortuous of the entire world championship. The time obtained in qualifying, especially with Charles Leclerc, probably had not fully rewarded what the SF1000 had demonstrated during the session, given that the time obtained in Q2 would have been sufficient to gain several positions on the starting grid, while its teammate, Sebastian Vettel, was unable to go beyond eleventh place, but with the possibility of freely choosing which tires he would start the race with. Although different, the races of the two drivers had a common path from certain points of view, so it makes sense to start the analysis by focusing on the race of Sebastian Vettel, the only Ferrari driver to cross the finish line.

The expected strategies for this Spanish Grand Prix were multiple and, although it had not been predicted among the most credible alternatives, it was a safe bet that more than a few drivers would have attempted to stop just once, especially for those who started outside from the top and had the opportunity to decide on which compound to start the race. Among these there was also Sebastian Vettel, eleventh on the grid, who had opted for the medium compound compound for the first part of the race: a versatile choice which, depending on how the track would evolve, would have left the door open to different possibilities, including the single-stop strategy. At the start, given the harder compound and the difficulties in finding a space to squeeze into, the German remained cautious, trying to stay as far away as possible from any contact in the initial stages. This had allowed him to maintain eleventh position, between Lando Norris in front of him and Daniil Kvyat behind him, with the latter representing the most concrete threat, given that on several occasions he had managed to get close to the Ferrari driver to attempt an attack, despite the good defensive lines undertaken by Vettel. Not an easy challenge, also because the number 26 could count on a set of soft tires, which guaranteed him greater grip. As in Austria, however, after just a few laps the temperature management problems had started to make themselves felt on car number 5, so much so that from the garage during the sixth lap they asked the four-time world champion to try to cool the single-seater . From this point of view, keeping the times slightly higher and taking a minimum of space from the driver in front of him, in this case Lando Norris, had certainly helped in many aspects, not only in temperature management, but also in that of the tyres, with which the Ferrari wall expected to continue as long as possible.

A push and pull continued until the seventeenth lap, when after having tried to attack Vettel again, the AlphaTauri wall asked Kvyat to increase the lift off at the end of the straights to reduce the temperatures of the single-seater, now extremely high after the many laps ended right behind the Ferrari driver. This had allowed Sebastian to take some space and manage his race differently, focusing on making those medium tires which should have represented a crucial element of his strategy last as long as possible, so much so that the team had also taken advantage of it also to recommend less aggressive engine mappings and to provide continuous references regarding tire saving. It is interesting to underline how at each pass, the German was given a score in relation to certain sections of the track, such as turn 3 and turn 9, two of the most demanding for the tyres, in order to independently adjust where to push and where to hold back.

However, despite the Ferrari driver's efforts to keep them in good shape, after about twenty laps the tires had started to show signs of degradation and, probably, also to be affected by the initial effort, which made it more complicated to manage the single-seater, especially in the insertion and traction areas. A concrete example is the approach to turn 3, where on a couple of occasions Sebastian had lost the rear, then ending up on the dirtiest part of the track where there was less grip. It is no coincidence that in the subsequent laps, the driver and the team began to discuss which strategies to adopt for the rest of the race, with the latter having proposed moving on to plan C, which probably involved stopping at short to fit another set of medium compound tires. We can deduce this by listening to Vettel's radio team to the team in response to this indication, in which he had stated that for him it was not the right choice given that the yellow band compound was showing the same problems encountered on Friday, reason for who believed it was essential to switch to a tire that could provide him with more rear grip compared to what he felt in the first part of the race.

Given the growing difficulties and the negative references that Alex Albon was providing on the harder compound, the time had come for Ferrari to think seriously about how the second half of the race should be set up, especially because Daniel was also approaching from behind. Ricciardo, who had moved into a useful space to try a possible undercut against the German: a factor to take into consideration, because the idea was that the Australian from Renault would have gone for the single stop. Defending oneself, however, would have meant bringing the pit stop forward compared to what were Ferrari's initial plans, which on the contrary waited to be able to continue until the thirty-fifth lap to be able to make the single-stop strategy work as best as possible. At that point it was easy to understand how the Prancing Horse's plans in garage number 5 had completely changed, going from a tactic with just one pit stop to one with two stops, taking advantage of the two sets of soft tires left available after qualifying. It is precisely around this point that the German's race is concentrated, because paradoxically it could have represented the beginning of something unthinkable or the end of everything. Let's try to better understand why. As we have seen, the initial intent of the Ferrari strategists was to continue the first stint of the race for as long as possible, in order to lay the foundations for what should have been a single-stop strategy. By extending the first part of the race, however, a considerable offset was created towards those drivers who had based their race on a tactic with two pit stops right from the start and the clearest example was that of Daniil Kvyat: before his stop, which occurred during the twenty-first lap, the Russian was about three seconds behind Sebastian Vettel, while after the German's return to the pits, the Alpha Tauri driver could count on an advantage of about one ten seconds. It is easy to understand how this thirteen-second delta had become a problem when the red wall had decided to change strategy, because not only had it meant that the German lost a position, but also that he was forced to use more their tires to close the gap, reducing their life. If it is true that at that moment Kvyat found himself in a large group of drivers, who were maintaining a rather high pace due to Esteban Ocon, it was undoubtedly necessary to consider that recovering those ten seconds would not have been easy and for this very reason in Ferrari they had decided to tackle the second part of the race with a used tyre, leaving the last set of new soft tires for the final phase of the race, in which according to their plans Vettel would have to launch the decisive attacks to recover some positions. It's easy to understand why this decision, if the two-stop plan had actually been pursued, could have been detrimental to the German: he would simply have had to start all over again and the work done in the first part of the race would have been almost useless. It is also difficult to think that creating an offset by delaying the second pit stop could have been useful in any way, because in addition to the gap to be closed in the second half of the race, the gap that the rivals would have gained with new tires would also have been added. Given that the difference in performance was not that great, the German would have had to sacrifice the advantage of having fresher tires in the initial part of the stint, thus finding himself at the decisive moment in conditions almost similar to those of the others on a track where it is difficult to overtake. .

Paradoxically, that very reading of the race had opened the doors for something different. Although Vettel should have pushed to close the gap to those in front of him, being out in clean air after the stop had helped contain tire degradation, giving the German the chance to go to the end. In addition to this, another aspect had to be considered, namely the fact that from lap thirty-six onwards, on car number 5 it had been decided to decrease in terms of engine power, combining a mapping called "FS2", designed for two purposes: to on the one hand to save fuel, a question that would also arise again at a later point in the race, on the other to preserve the tires, in particular the rear ones. But it is between the forty-third and forty-ninth lap that the four-time world champion's race would have taken a completely different direction.

The teams' steering wheels are very different from each other, but they all tend to have some points in common. On the Ferrari one, in particular, there is a small knob on the left side, called "tyre phase", with which the drivers can express on a scale of values ​​the state of the tires and how marked their degradation is, in order to give a reference to the boxes for strategies. After about fifteen laps from the start of the stint, Vettel had moved that selector exactly to a mode that indicated a consumption quantifiable as "medium", which led one to assume that set of tires was still in good condition and still had something to give. Knowing that the moment of stopping would soon arrive, as they had predicted in the simulations, in the immediately following lap the engineers in the pits asked the Heppenheim driver to take advantage of a more aggressive mapping and push for three laps, giving everything he had , probably to cover for Kvyat who had just stopped. Even before completing those three steps, however, a new communication had arrived from the garage, in which the track engineer had asked the German for his opinion regarding the possibility of reaching the checkered flag on that same set of soft tires which by now had already covered more than twenty laps.

A request that had understandably surprised Vettel, as only a few minutes earlier he had received a completely opposite request, that is to push and give full effect to everything he had: after a quick discussion, Sebastian had given his approval to the strategy, stating that they had not nothing to lose. A vision that we agree with, because after the confusion created after the change of strategy during the race, Sebastian actually had nothing left to lose, given that in all likelihood he would have finished the race outside the top ten. At that point there was only one objective, to get to the end trying to lose as few positions as possible, given that it would have been difficult to contain those who would have stopped for a second time, such as Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz Jr., Alex Albon and the big man small group of pilots behind him. Although he then had to give up the position to the two drivers from Racing Point and McLaren, given the too marked difference in pace, the German still managed to maintain an excellent seventh place thanks to his management skills and defense at the end from the Anglo-Thai from Red Bull. Considering the various changes in strategy and the difficulties that arose during the Grand Prix, the German's seventh place represents a high-level result, which would hardly have been achieved without the four-time world champion's ability to read the race.

Teammate Charles Leclerc's race was different but similar. After a good start in which he managed to overtake Lando Norris with extreme braking into Turn 1, the Monegasque also became aggressive towards Pierre Gasly, without however finding the right opening to complete the overtaking. A duel that also continued in the subsequent stages, which however had also negatively influenced the temperatures of the Power Unit of the number 16 car, for which the garage had asked to increase the lift and coast in certain areas of the track to cool both the car than the brakes. From that moment on, Leclerc's race was in a sort of stalemate phase, between the impossibility of overtaking the Frenchman from AlphaTauri due to the small difference in pace, and the need to keep the pace under control. health of both the tires and the car, with all the negative effects that remaining so close to another car for an extremely prolonged period could entail. This led to having to make serious evaluations regarding strategy and what to do for the rest of the race, considering that after about fifteen laps we were also starting to see signs of blistering on the front covers.

It is important to start by underlining that before the departure, Ferrari had probably envisaged various solutions in order to adapt to any situation they would find themselves facing: for this reason it should not be surprising that in the various radio teams both the team and Leclerc had explored the various possibilities, discussing both plan “B” and plan “A inverted”, with the latter appearing to be the one the Cavallino strategists were focusing on the most. It is no coincidence, in fact, that at the beginning of the twenty-first lap the Monegasque was asked to switch to "box" mode and do the opposite of what Gasly would have done: in short, if the Frenchman had stopped, then Leclerc would have remained in track, otherwise Charles would have had to return to continue with a two-stop strategy. Precisely the pit stops of the Frenchman from AlphaTauri and Sainz had represented a fundamental element for the Ferrari driver, because they had thus provided him with the opportunity to stay on the track longer in clean air and it is no coincidence that exactly in the following lap, the team and Leclerc himself had agreed that at that point "plan B", or the only stop, was the tactic to pursue to try to recover some positions. To be able to make that strategy work, according to the Ferrari simulations Leclerc would have had to be able to continue at least until the twenty-ninth lap: an objective which, despite the obvious difficulties in managing the single-seater, the Monegasque had managed to complete, although this meant having virtually lost position to both Lando Norris and Daniil Kvyat. A complication in itself that was relevant immediately, given that he would have found them in front of him after the pit stop, but not necessarily over the long distance, considering that with the strategy adopted they should not have represented a problem.

After the stop, the Monegasque immediately went on the attack, trying to make the most of the advantage of the fresher tyre, first overtaking a surprised Kvyat who had left the door open at the entrance to turn 10, and subsequently attacking the McLaren driver, without however find the overtaking. A prolonged duel that had put the car's cooling system to the test, which is why the track engineer had asked several times between the thirty-second and thirty-fifth laps to carry out some lift and coast in order to lower the temperatures. The mistake made at the last chicane at the very end of that thirty-fifth lap undoubtedly had helped in this respect, because it had involuntarily forced Leclerc to take space from the Englishman, with all the benefits of the case in that particular situation. A useful gap not only to supply more air to the Power Unit, but also to force the Ferrari driver to perform greater lift and coast, so much so that during the following lap, the thirty-sixth, the track engineer had underlined how the driver was making a Good work. Yet, only a few meters later, the Monegasque's race was suddenly interrupted following a spin at the last chicane, due to an electrical problem which had caused the car to shut down completely and blocked the rear axle, thus rendering impossible to remedy.

After several unsuccessful attempts, which had also led him to unfasten his seat belts, the car managed to set off again, but some strange sensations and the fact that he was driving at that moment without the necessary safety measures had convinced him to opt for the withdraw. The question arises spontaneously: what had triggered that problem? And why had the car turned off? At first it was thought that the curb at the entrance to the chicane could have played a role in some way, but it is difficult to think that a minimal contact with the front tires very similar to others that had already occurred previously, in a curve which low speed, could create such significant vibrations as to cause the control unit to go haywire and shut down the car. However, the possibility that the high temperatures recorded at that moment could have sent the control unit into a sort of "protection" mode, in order to prevent any damage: in the previous laps, in fact, the Monegasque was having significant overheating problems and the insistence with which the track engineer had repeated to increase the lift and coast could suggest that the situation was not to be taken lightly. Furthermore, the third sector is also the slowest one, where it is more complex to cool the car, further amplifying the problems. Despite the various clues supporting this hypothesis, there would be other considerations to be made, such as why it only occurred at that moment and why the same did not happen to other pilots, despite having spent more time in the wake of another single-seater. To make sense of the story, Ferrari explained after the race that it was an electronic problem, without, however, going into detail. Undoubtedly a shame, because the Monegasque was having a good race and seemed to have all it takes to recover a few more positions, as stated by Mattia Binotto in interviews: “A very disappointing weekend, both for the result obtained and for how the we managed. In qualifying we were unable to optimize the potential available and we know how important the starting position is on a track like this where overtaking is very difficult. Despite this, in the race we had the real possibility of fighting for fourth place with Charles but a reliability problem put him out of the running,” said the Ferrari team principal.

One of the issues that remained at the forefront after these declarations was the question mark regarding the chances of Leclerc managing to finish the race in fourth place. To answer this question it is necessary to retrace what happened in the phases following the first pit stop of both Ferrari drivers and how this would have affected their race. As we have seen, after the first stop the Italian team's wall had decided to diversify the strategy with its two drivers, deeming it valid that with Leclerc it was realistic to think of reaching the checkered flag on that set of medium compound tires just mounted . An understandable choice, if it weren't for the fact that after stopping, Leclerc would have found himself in traffic, with what this situation could have meant in terms of pace and tire life: a price to pay that he had no alternative, but which could have been worth the candle if the single-stop strategy had actually worked. The situation was different for Vettel, so the team had decided to change the vision of the race, setting his race on a two-pit-stop tactic, which is why it would have been necessary to stop again. But why is it important to take German into account in these considerations? By observing the data of the moments following the tire changes of the two Ferrari drivers, which occurred almost simultaneously, we can see how the gap between the two once they returned to the track was over nine seconds. A gap that would become increasingly smaller in the following laps, especially taking into account that the small group in which the Monegasque found himself was lapping at a fairly high pace also due to the numerous duels, unlike Sebastian, who had the opportunity to continue in clean air. In fact, at the moment of Leclerc's spin, that difference between the two Ferrari drivers had been reduced to just over four and a half seconds, which meant having halved the gap, even if the subsequent retirement had deprived us of a useful yardstick. to understand how the race would evolve. For this reason in our analysis we will take Lando Norris as a reference, with whom the Ferrari number 16 was dueling until the moment of the unfortunate episode: considering that Charles would have been very unlikely to have managed to complete the overtaking, on the one hand due to the excellent defense of the English, on the other hand because at a certain point Leclerc should have thought more about tire management than attacking, we believe it can be taken as a valid yardstick.

Going in order, at the moment of Leclerc's spin, Vettel was experiencing a delay towards Norris quantifiable around six seconds, which would then increase to a total of nine seconds when the young Englishman would have stopped for his second and final stop during the forty-fourth lap. An overall understandable increase, given that in the last laps before his pit stop Lando had increased the pace, in order to make the most of what remained of that set of tyres, and that Vettel had to slow down to allow Hamilton to complete dubbing. Assuming that the Monegasque from Ferrari had remained behind the driver of the Woking team, the difference between the two Ferrari standard-bearers would most likely have been quantifiable around seven and a half seconds, naturally taking into account a possible error of a few tenths. Let's now take a small step forward: in that phase of the race, Sergio Perez virtually occupied fourth place, who could count on an advantage of around two and a half seconds over Norris and who, above all, would not have stopped again, having opted for a single-stop strategy. Hypothetically, at the beginning of the forty-sixth lap the situation would therefore be presented with Perez virtually fourth and ready to go all the way, Leclerc fifth about four seconds behind the Mexican, Vettel sixth just over seven seconds behind his teammate, Stroll seventh and Sainz eighth, respectively four and six seconds behind the German from Ferrari.

At this point, there were many conceivable scenarios: would the Ferrari driver be able to keep up with the Mexican from Racing Point? Or would he even have managed to lap at a faster pace than his rival? Questions to which, naturally, we will not have a concrete answer, but we can still venture some hypotheses. Looking at Vettel's split times, we can see how in the subsequent laps Sebastian managed to reduce the gap towards Perez, bringing it to around six seconds: it was certainly not a surprise, because we must always keep in mind that initially the the Cavallino wall had asked him to push, as they were convinced they were on a two-stop strategy. Furthermore, by listening to Perez's radio teams, it is easy to understand how the team's instructions were to keep the pace high in order to preserve the most powerful coverage and mapping at an engine level for the finale. Until the fifty-sixth lap, a lap in which the German had been overtaken by Lance Stroll, such a significant tire drop had not yet occurred on the car of the four-time world champion and this, combined with the fact that Perez did not have the need to pushing with a good advantage would explain part of the story. Assuming that in a hypothetical scenario in which Leclerc had also been present, Sergio would not have improved his pace, it is reasonable to think that the Monegasque could actually manage to maintain a constant gap from those in front of him, quantifiable once again at around four seconds. It must not be forgotten, in fact, that the Ferrari driver had remained in the traffic of several single-seaters for a long time, also battling his rivals, factors which could have compromised the health of the tyres, unlike Perez, who remained behind his team-mate for several laps. , but without duels or without excessively straining the tires: furthermore, one of the most appreciated characteristics of "Checo" is precisely its sensitivity and kindness when driving, thanks to which it tends to keep the tires in better shape than its own opponents.

Assuming, therefore, that the gap between the latter two had remained constant, then Stroll would have found himself around three/four seconds behind Leclerc with still ten laps to complete. Considering that Lance was managing to maintain a pace seven tenths faster than his teammate, then in a couple of laps he would have also managed to close the gap on the Ferrari's Monegasque, moving at least behind him five/six laps from the flag. chess. The question is therefore legitimate: would Charles have managed to contain the Racing Point driver? It's difficult to give an answer, but the speed gap of the SF1000 on the straightest sections combined with the difference in performance and the state of health of the tires would undoubtedly not have made the task easy. Among other things, throughout this analysis, we have deliberately temporarily put aside the possibility that the tires of car number 16 could have shown some signs of degradation. What is certain, however, is that the duel would have given Perez the opportunity to gain several tenths of a second, perhaps even adopting a more aggressive mapping, which would have made the Mexican's five-second penalty irrelevant for the purposes of the result. In short, assuming such a scenario, it would have been realistic for Ferrari to aim for a fifth or sixth place, keeping Sainz behind, who would have had some difficulty in being able to close the gap and also find overtaking in the final laps.

On the contrary, let's now take into consideration the hypothesis that Leclerc had managed to maintain a faster pace than Perez since the forty-sixth lap. What would have happened? The Barcelona track is perhaps one of the events in the world championship where it is most difficult to overtake due to its shape, unless you enjoy a fairly marked performance gap or take advantage of an opponent's mistake. Assuming that the Ferrari driver had managed to maintain a faster pace than the Mexican from Racing Point, this certainly would not have been enough to be able to overtake in complete tranquility. As could be appreciated in other phases of the race, in fact, the Monegasque had had serious difficulties in being able to find the winning move on both Gasly and Norris, therefore being forced to stay behind. Barring a possible mistake on the part of the Mexican, it is reasonable to think that Perez would have been able to manage the situation and that, at a certain point, even Leclerc himself would have had to give up so as not to excessively ruin the set of tires with which he would have had to get there at the finish. Even assuming that Leclerc had managed to stay around two seconds away, this would most likely not have changed much for the final result, given that Stroll would still have managed to close the gap, simply with a couple of laps later than expected. described previously, provided that the latter had not had some more powerful mapping available to be able to reach the Ferrarista more quickly. Even in this case, however, we voluntarily kept aside the unknown of tire wear which, however, by remaining so close to Perez could have seen a more rapid deterioration. The duel at the end would still have given the Mexican the opportunity to take up space, not to mention that at the risk of having to give up fourth position to a direct rival in the constructors' standings, Racing Point would most likely have agreed to the use of more powerful mappings , finding those seconds they needed.

In short, even if thinking of being able to compete with the two Racing Points (or at least maintain a limited gap) wasn't actually a completely unrealistic hypothesis, managing to achieve fourth place would have been an extremely difficult undertaking. Beyond these considerations, the Spanish event still represented a clear and dark Grand Prix for the Italian team. Was it Ferrari that took a step backwards compared to Silverstone, or did its rivals take a step forward? The answer is that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, being on a track that is favorable for the rivals but less appreciated by the SF1000. The failure to fully exploit its potential in qualifying had undoubtedly complicated the race, thus forcing the two standard bearers of the Red team to have to start towards the middle of the field: the strategies during the race then played an important role, thus allowing the Cavallino to recover some positions. Compared to the first seasonal events, it seems that some steps forward have been made, we'll see if he can confirm himself in the next Grands Prix too.

Full loot for Racing Point

Approaching the Spanish event, Racing Point was among the favorites to establish itself in the midfield, with McLaren and Ferrari as its most fearsome rivals. Having managed to conquer fourth and fifth position on the starting grid, among other things with a considerable advantage over the rivals, had undoubtedly laid the foundations for repeating the same result in the race and thus bringing home a good loot of useful points in the constructors' classification.

The excellent sprint at the start by Lance Stroll, who managed to make the most of the various trails and overtake Valtteri Bottas thanks to an excellent braking in turn 1, had placed another small piece in the English team's race. Clearly it was unrealistic to think that the Finn could remain behind the Canadian for a long time, but having another driver between himself and his closest rivals was certainly a factor that could work in his favour: an overtaking then arrived at the beginning of the fifth lap, thanks with the help of the DRS. However, the start of the race for teammate Sergio Perez was more complicated.

Just as in Hungary, a slow clutch release and excessive spinning in the very early stages meant that the Mexican immediately lost position to Stroll, while thanks to the different lines and traffic, he managed to maintain fifth place in the damage by Alex Albon. After the episodes at the start, the first stint of the race did not reserve any particular surprises: as expected, there was not the pace to be able to maintain the same times as Bottas, but at least the two Racing Point drivers had managed to maintain a safe distance the Anglo-Thai of Red Bull, who had a gap of about three seconds. The early stops of Albon and Sainz, who in turn had rejoined the traffic after their respective pit stops, had given the two RP20s the opportunity to extend the first stint by a few more laps, in order to have fresher tires without however waste too much time. Pit stop that would have come at the end of the twenty-seventh lap for Stroll, which would have meant planning the race on a two-stop tactic, in order to cover the drivers behind him. Intelligently, however, the Racing Point pitstop had decided to diversify the strategies, leaving Perez on the track for a few more laps so that he could enter the useful window to be able to finish the race without the need to stop a second time. Considering that different drivers, including Leclerc, Vettel and Ricciardo, could have had a different approach on strategic issues, the decision of the strategists of the English team to differentiate the various tactics between its two drivers in order to cover both scenarios could have been consider it a wise choice. An option made possible also thanks to the well-known qualities in terms of tire management of the Mexican, who has always been one of the best on the grid in this aspect. The only consideration that could be made in this regard is that, perhaps, the pit stop of a single lap could have been brought forward, so as not to have Perez rejoin immediately behind Sainz: in any case, it was "Checo" himself to solve the problem, overtaking the Spaniard a few laps after the stop despite the compound disadvantage compared to his McLaren rival. An extremely important overtaking not only for the position itself, but also because this would have reduced tire degradation by traveling less time in dirty air.

Continuing with the race, once Daniel Ricciardo was also freed around the thirty-sixth lap, the time had come to think about how to move in terms of strategy. After the retirement of Charles Leclerc, who also represented one of the most concrete threats, the situation had become slightly clearer, with Carlos Sainz as the only driver who could actually undermine the two Racing Points. The Spaniard's early stop had thus pushed the Anglo-Canadian team to react, calling Lance Stroll back to the pits: it was the right choice, because in this way a possible undercut by the standard bearer of the Woking team was avoided. A decision that however did not arrive for Sergio Perez, despite there being space to call the Mexican back and still have him come out in front of Sainz. This leads us to understand how the strategy decided with the Mexican was now clear, that is, to continue and carry on until the end following "plan A", regardless of what would have happened around him. A choice that had paid off, because beyond the five-second penalty he received for not respecting the blue flags in the lapping by Lewis Hamilton, Sergio had managed to finish the race on the track in fourth place thanks to excellent management of the tyres, pushing only towards the end when it was really necessary. In any case, fourth and fifth positions represent an excellent haul for Racing Point, which finally managed to maximize the car's potential by finishing immediately behind the unattainable Mercedes and Verstappen. Something that had never happened until now and which allows the Anglo-Canadian team to get on the virtual podium in the constructors' standings, behind Red Bull but ahead of McLaren.

The challenge in the middle of the group

Even for the Woking team, strategies represented a crucial element in this sixth round of the season, for better or for worse. If at the start Carlos Sainz Jr. had managed to maintain his seventh position achieved on Saturday, the same could not be said for his teammate, Lando Norris, who in the very early stages had been overtaken by both Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc, with the latter aggressively braking into Turn 1. As with other drivers, the first stint did not hold any particular events for the two McLaren standard-bearers, stuck in the large midfield group where it was difficult to manage to find the right opening to overtake an opponent. The first turning point in the race was the whirlwind of pit stops, which gave the opportunity to try something different and get back on the attack again. The stops and the traffic of the riders who still had to stop, in fact, had brought the middle group riders closer together: an opportunity that the Spanish driver had not missed, taking advantage of the advantage of the softer compound to overtake Alex Albon thanks to the help of the DRS. An attack that came at the right time, because having gained position against the Anglo-Thai driver from Red Bull had allowed Sainz to be able to complete the undercut on Sergio Perez for a few tenths of a second. A satisfaction, however, that lasted a few kilometres, because in the following lap the Mexican driver managed to regain sixth place, thus laying the foundations for his single-stop strategy to work best.

His teammate also managed to recover a position, completing the undercut against Charles Leclerc from whom he then also defended himself excellently in the laps following the stop, although the two had different strategies, with Norris taking the lead he should have stopped at least one more time. As in the first stint, after the initial phases there were no particular upheavals in the second part of the race, with the drivers forced to remain in their positions given the difficulties in completing overtaking. Once again, however, the pit stops would have changed the game, in particular the early one by Alex Albon who, dissatisfied with the hard tyre, had preferred to return to fit a new set of yellow stripe tires and attempt an undercut in the against the Spaniard from McLaren.

The Woking team's wall had read the situation perfectly, waiting for the last possible moment to rejoin and still remain ahead of the Red Bull opponent. It's a different story for Lando Norris, who was unlucky in his timing. Albon's second pit stop represented one of those particular cases, as it could be considered anticipated in an absolute sense compared to his rivals, but perfect in terms of timing to avoid ending up in the middle of the leading drivers who would thus have had to lap him and waste numerous seconds. This would not have been possible, for example, for Norris, given that although he had a window to maintain his position on Ricciardo, he would have been forced to slow down to allow Verstappen and Bottas to complete the lappings, thus losing the advantage that I returned early and fitted a set of new tyres. Virtually, therefore, there would not have been a useful window to complete the undercut on Pierre Gasly, who could have been the only concrete objective to recover a position. From that point until the end of the race, very little would have happened, other than Carlos Sainz Jr. overtaking a Sebastian Vettel who was more focused on finishing the race than defending himself. A sixth and a tenth place finish which represent a meager haul for the English team, especially when compared to the excellent performance of Racing Point, rival in the championship. Among the positive aspects, it should be considered that on a circuit that was known to be in favor of its rivals, the MCL35 still performed well, demonstrating a good level of competitiveness especially in the race, where perhaps with a little more luck at the strategically, a better result could have been achieved.

A disappointing day, however, at Renault, with both cars out of the points for the first time in the season. After the excellent performances at Silverstone, the French team was aware that the Spanish event would not be the easiest for the RS20, which, like the cars that preceded it, does not digest the characteristics of the Barcelona circuit. Nonetheless, there was certainly room to try something different underneath in terms of strategy, an opportunity that the engineers of the transalpine team had not missed, setting the race of both drivers on a single-stop tactic: a plan which would have included starting on medium compound tyres, and then switching to the softer compound for the last part of the race, exactly like Sebastian Vettel. Three races which, however, also saw three different results and the comparison with the German is exactly the perfect example to understand what didn't work in the strategy put in place by Renault. At the start, Daniel Ricciardo was very clever in making the most of the slipstream play, choosing trajectories that allowed him to overtake Daniil Kvyat despite a terrible clutch release, in which he caused the rear tires to spin excessively, losing several metres. An overtaking then returned a few laps later, when thanks also to the help of the softer tires which guaranteed greater grip, the Russian managed to recover the position on the outside of turn 4. Aside from the immediate overtaking, the strategy remained the same, that is to go as long as possible to try to complete the race with just one stop, as well as for his teammate, who had lost a position to Kevin. Magnussen at the start. But what went wrong with Renault's tactic and why did neither driver manage to score points? To examine this point it is important to skip most of the first stint of the race and get to the twenty-ninth lap, i.e. the passage where Sebastian Vettel would have stopped: at that moment Ricciardo was just over half a second behind the Ferrari German, for which could not be ruled out that Renault might decide to bring the stop forward by a few laps and try an undercut, in order to at least certainly recover a position. A choice which, however, did not arrive, on the one hand due to the Ferrari pit wall's decision to recall its driver, on the other due to Renault's desire to keep Ricciardo on the track for a few more laps, so much so that the Australian would have returned only six came back later.

As if that wasn't enough, in the meantime Ricciardo had also been forced to slow down further to let the race leader, Lewis Hamilton, pass, losing further precious tenths, which had thus brought the gap from Vettel to a total of eleven seconds. A gap so wide that it had also allowed Alex Albon to return for his second stop and get back in front of the Australian and at that point it was clear that there would be no more variations in strategy that could have potentially resolved a now compromised situation, to which he also had to add an inevitable tire management phase, which would have done nothing but provide the other drivers with the opportunity to make their stops and still come out in front of the Renault driver. Only towards the end of the race, Ricciardo managed to get closer to the midfield group again, without however finding the gap in terms of performance necessary to complete an overtaking. While it is true that Renault's simulations probably showed that it was necessary to lengthen the first stint to be able to make the single-stop strategy work, one cannot help but think about how those six extra laps compared to Vettel during the first part of the race were they were also the reason why Ricciardo's race became all uphill, so much so that it pushed him out of the points. The next events, in particular those in Spa and Monza, should be more suited to the characteristics of the RS20, which is why it could be reasonable to expect a Renault closer to its direct competitors.

Also intertwined with these threads is AlphaTauri's race, once again in the points and ready to exploit any opportunity to achieve a result in the top ten. Having managed to reach Q3 on Saturday, albeit by just a few thousandths, had proven to be an important signal, which had made it clear that the AT01 was actually a car which, particularly in the expert hands of Pierre Gasly, could really have your say in the midfield. At the start, the French driver had managed to make the most of the various trails and trajectories available, finding the right space to attack and overtake Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

Daniil Kvyat's start was more eventful, as he was "swallowed up" by the group behind him in the first few metres, before skilfully managing to recover several positions also thanks to a spectacular overtaking on Daniel Ricciardo on the outside of turn 3. Taking advantage the advantage of having a more high-performance tire in the early stages of the race, the Russian had also proved extremely aggressive towards Sebastian Vettel, coming close several times to actually attempting an attack, before the high temperatures of the brakes and the Power Unit forced him forced to take up some space and exploit the lift and coast technique to cool the car. Given the difficulties in being able to complete overtaking in normal racing conditions, the first stint of both drivers had not reserved any further particular episodes and also the strategies, more or less, were aligned with those of the other drivers who pursued the two stops around them. The early pit stop, however, had given Daniil Kvyat the opportunity to overtake Sebastian Vettel in the pits, a move that would have proved useful if the German had then changed strategy, as it initially seemed, to pursue the two-stop tactic. Continuing with the race, the interpretation of the AlphaTauri wall during Pierre Gasly's second stop was excellent: staying on the track for as long as possible in order to avoid that, by anticipating the stop to protect himself from a possible undercut by Norris, could find himself in the traffic of the fastest drivers, thus having to leave the road and lose several seconds. Unfortunately, however, there wasn't much to do for the other standard bearer of the Italian team, Kvyat, who at the moment of the second stop had been unable to do anything but see the drivers who had set their strategy on a single pit stop finish in front of him, although the gap from the latter at the end of the race proved to be minimal.

Haas, Alfa Romeo and Williams: a three-way battle

Considering the characteristics of the circuit and the difficulties encountered at this start of the season, it was expected that for Alfa Romeo, Haas and Williams it could be a more difficult event than the previous ones, a test bench in which however also understand what and if there were progress compared to the winter tests. The real surprise was Kimi Raikkonen's fourteenth position during qualifying, putting him behind the more competitive Renault of Esteban Ocon: also taking advantage of the last set of new soft tyres, the Finn could probably have recovered a few more positions, but the team had decided to keep that set in view of the race, thus having the 2007 world champion take to the track with medium tyres. Worse had gone to his teammate, Antonio Giovinazzi, who would have started from the back of the grid. The two Haas and the two Williams were also inserted between the two Italian-Swiss cars, with George Russell who, unlike the previous events, on this occasion was unable to achieve passage into Q2.

At the start, the smartest was once again Kevin Magnussen, who was good at taking advantage of the softer tire and the different trajectories during the first lap to overtake both Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Ocon, with the latter's race at that point she already seemed extremely compromised. Despite the different compounds available, the Finn from Alfa Romeo had managed to remain in the exhaust of his Danish rival for a long time, without however finding the space necessary to complete an overtaking, a factor which was certainly penalizing him at that moment considering that in terms of step Kimi seemed to have something more. What further penalized the Finn's race was the attack of Esteban Ocon who, after almost twenty laps, had finally managed to exploit the mobile wing to lead the attack and thus obtain fifteenth position. The most interesting aspect of this phase of the race concerns the strategic choices: if it was decided with Raikkonen to continue making two stops, the tactic chosen by Haas and Renault was to manage to reach the end of the race with a single pit -stop, retracing what had been done a week earlier at Silverstone. However, the moments in which the drivers decided to stop were different: after suffering a significant drop in the soft tyre, Magnussen had opted in agreement with the team to complete his pit stop after twenty-eight laps, while Ocon, having provision of harder coverage than average, he remained on the track for another six laps.

This, however, had sent the Haas Dane back behind not only Raikkonen but also Giovinazzi, with the difference that the latter two would have had to stop once again, fitting that last set of new soft tires to disposition for the last stint all on the attack. In the second stint, Kevin had shown all his potential, completing a splendid overtaking on the Italian from Alfa Romeo on the outside of turn 3 and recovering a total of almost nine seconds on the other C39, taking him into line with him.

With still twenty laps to go, the pit wall of the Italian-Swiss team was quick to react, calling Raikkonen back for his second and final stop. Being able to close the gap again after the pit stop would not have been easy, especially due to the different drivers that the 2007 world champion would have been forced to overtake to get back behind Magnussen. Thanks to the excellent feeling found with the softer compound, Kimi was able to recover tenths after tenths at each pass, despite the various duels along the way, until he caught up with the Dane with still six laps to complete. Thanks to the difference in degradation between the various compounds, it would have been easy for Kimi to complete the maneuver, taking home fourteenth place, nothing special in itself, but still encouraging considering his race conduct and general performance over the weekend .

The race of his teammate, Antonio Giovinazzi, was more complicated, penalized by having started from the back of the grid. Just like the 2007 world champion, the Italian had also set his race on a two-stop strategy, i.e. medium-medium-soft, and after an initial part of the race in traffic, Antonio had managed to make some overtakings and take just five seconds behind his teammate. In the last stint of the race, the driver from Martina Franca managed to find the right feeling with the soft compound, once again making several overtaking until he reunited with Kevin Magnussen again in the final laps, despite the decisive overtaking not coming later. Considering his progression during the Grand Prix, there are certainly many regrets about Saturday's qualifying, which had affected his race even before the start.

Strategies that also characterized Williams' race, which had tried to differentiate the races of its two drivers, hoping to be able to get back into the match with its closest rivals. After starting on the softer tyre, George Russell was one of the first to stop, switching to the medium compound, thanks to which he managed to climb up to fourteenth position. Despite the possibility of extending the second stint of the race by a few more laps, however, the team had decided to bring forward the second stop in order to avoid a possible undercut by Romain Grosjean, who had recently stopped for his first pit-stop by fitting the softest tires available. After stopping for the second and final time, Russell also managed to get back into Esteban Ocon's exhaust and remain within striking distance for several laps, before tire degradation did the rest, forcing him to lose positions even towards the two Alfa Romeo drivers and Kevin Magnussen. The choice made with Nicholas Latifi is more difficult to understand: after a first stint of over thirty laps, the team had decided to once again fit a set of medium compound tyres, which would have meant having to stop compulsorily a second time, thus losing the good things done in the first running segment. What makes you wonder is whether the Williams wall had planned to manage the Canadian's race on a single stop, only to change his mind during the race. Undoubtedly, however, it was a strange choice, because Nicholas himself had struggled in the initial laps, not finding the feeling with the car, so it was more reasonable to think of a two-stop tactic, avoiding excessively lengthening the first stint and losing precious seconds which were clearly felt in the final classification.

The next date

After the break, Formula 1 will return to the track once again with three consecutive events, starting from Spa, one of the most beautiful circuits in the entire world championship. The Belgian track has always been a favorite among drivers due to its layout, full of fast corners and some of the most beautiful sections of the entire championship. The Belgian GP should also represent the last event in which teams will be allowed to use the various engine maps freely, without restrictions, a rule which according to the latest rumors should be introduced starting from the Italian Grand Prix with a new directive technique.