Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, on Sunday, saw a fascinating match up between Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari. This was the fifth Grand Prix of the season, with Vettel having won 2 races and Hamilton 1.
Hamilton and Vettel, winners of seven of the last nine drivers' titles, provided a cliffhanger of a contest today. A contest which had it all. Dangerous contact between the cars, multiple overtaking attempts and smart tyre strategy.
If there were any doubts as to who the favorites for this year's driver's title were, those were answered today as the duo gave enough indication that this season would be a direct head-to-head for the crown.
In the end, it was Hamilton and his team Mercedes’ strategy that saw them through, ably supported by the other Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas.
Both drivers made 2 pit-stops during the 66-lapped race. It was the choice of tyres that made pretty much all the difference.
While Vettel went for Soft, Soft and Medium respectively, Hamilton chose Soft, Medium and Soft, in that order.
A Soft tire provides speed, and faster turning on corners, while sacrificing durability. A Medium tire on the other hand, is more durable, with a lesser speed. I shall take up tyres in detail in another blog spot.
Hamilton had started the race on pole position, with Vettel on second. After the race began, Vettel soon pulled ahead of Hamilton and started increasing the gap from Hamilton on second, whose Mercedes teammate Bottas was behind on third.
After coming out of his first pit stop, where he chose Soft tyres, Vettel joined at second position behind Bottas, and realized that he has got to make the best use of this part of the race, where he is on Soft, while Hamilton is on Medium. He made multiple attempts to overtake Bottas in Laps 23 and 24, and was thwarted effectively by Bottas, thus helping Hamilton gain a precious couple of seconds in number 3 position.
Vettel finally overtook Bottas in Lap 25, and soon enough Bottas allowed Hamilton to overtake, showing brilliant teamwork. Vettel meanwhile pushed to extend his lead.
Lap 37, Hamilton pits, switches to soft tyres, and joins the track 24 seconds behind Vettel. Lap 38, Vettel pits, and he joins back very close to Hamilton, and the two cars come very close to each other, but Vettel pulls ahead, Hamilton isn't too happy and is heard telling on the team radio that he was alongside Vettel and was forced to push wide.
But the advantage is with Hamilton with his soft tyres. Meanwhile, Bottas' engine goes bad in Lap 40, and he is out of the race.
Hamilton keeps striving desperately to overtake, and finally succeeds in doing so in Lap 44, with an amazing maneuver. Vettel now keeps hoping that Hamilton wouldn't be able to take his soft tyres to the end of the race, and would be forced to stop.
Hamilton doesn't, and manages his engine superbly well, keeps extending his lead, and in the last 6 laps, it seems that Vettel has accepted the result.
Hamilton eventually wins by 3.5 seconds, and closes Vettel's lead at the top of the drivers' championship to 6 points. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a fascinating season on our hands!
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