Spanish Grand Prix — 2018: Post Race Analysis

Fantastic Race. So many incidents. Great drives by a couple of drivers. Bad errors and unfortunate turnout for a couple of the others. We take a look back at the race and what we can expect in two weeks time in Monaco.

Source : Getty Images.

- Friday and Saturday Analysis

1. Free Practice has been very interesting this season, with the likes of Ferrari hiding their true pace.“Sandbagging” is the term that’s being thrown around and very rightly so. While all teams go out and try to collect valuable track data and try to find the perfect balance for the car; Ferrari run with extra fuel load and consistently run slower in Free Practice 1 in a bid to hide their true potential. Certainly not a dark arts by any means since teams are well within their rights to do so, but they are sticking to the age old Italian cliché of having a fast car but slow minds.
2. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull had pretty good pace in the car, but the paddock knew Mercedes would have the edge with over one thousand laps of testing done in the winter. They certainly did with both Hamilton and Bottas qualifying 1–2 for the first time this season.
3. Down in the midfield, Charles Leclerc had a fantastic drive for Sauber. One must realize that a company like Sauber with a small team and relatively meager funding cannot produce the kind of package the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari produce with a billion dollar budget and close to a thousand employees. The paddock are standing up and noticing the kid’s recent performances and credit to the young man.
4. Fernando Alonso was able to participate in Q3 for the first time this season which was a big boost for the team. In terms of race pace itself, Mclaren still have a long way to go before they can challenge the top 3.
5. The Haas are living upto their expectations finishing 7th and 10th place and will look to score points and rise up the Championship Table. Their package this season has been really good and everyone expected them to be the best of the rest ( behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari), but unfortunate events have cost them dearly in the past few races. They will be hoping to put those aside on Sunday.
6. Williams are absolutely struggling for any sort of balance in the car. By their own terms, they have produced the worst car in decades and are having a pretty bad time trying to find performance from the car. We expect them to struggle on Sunday.

- Sunday: Race Day Highlights

1. Let’s talk about incident at Turn 2 and what exactly happened. Kevin Magnussen had a big moment with the car struggling for grip and slipping and sliding into turn 3 with cold tires and over 100 kilos of fuel onboard. Romain Grosjean behind overreacted to Kevin’s car twitching in the front which made him go wide onto the slippery kerbs. He lost control and tried to gain back control by stepping on the throttle. It turned out to be a costly mistake as his effort to regain control ended up in creating a mini-donut on track with plumes of smoke from his rear tires as his engine rev-limiter echoes in the background. Behind him, the drivers have absolutely nowhere to go and he ends up taking out Hulkenberg and Gasly in the process. In that situation, he would have been better off letting the car roll instead of stepping on the throttle in a bid to regain control — just like Robert Kubica did FP1 when he lost control in the last two corners.
2. Great drive from both Mercedes drivers. Great job by Bottas. Absolute masterclass from Lewis Hamilton in the front. Right from the first lap, perfect start off the line, pulls +6 secs gap on Vettel in 2nd place. From then on, it was a sunday stroll in the park. Consistently breaking circuit records lap after lap. The Mercedes W08 slipped into a trance. Like it’s championship winning predecessor, it has a lot of moving parts and components that all need to sing together to achieve the full crescendo. On Sunday, it was like an orchestra with every player at full tilt. The car stuck to the ground firmly and didn’t bother with understeering in the high speed corners nor oversteering out of exits. It didn’t behave like a “diva” whatsoever. Watching Lewis Hamilton from the cockpit view was such a pleasure. The relationship between man and machine working in perfect harmony was on full display for us mere mortals, with Lewis Hamilton steering the car with such precise inputs and the car responding to his every command. Would you like to see the opposite of his driving style? Have a look at Lance Stroll fidgeting away on his steering wheel and trying to make the car work. Such contrasts in performance from both cars and teams with Mercedes on top and Williams at the bottom.
3. Not the ideal weekend for Ferrari. Vettel finishing fourth while Raikkonen retiring the car with a Powerunit Issue. It was a strange performance from them given the fact that they were decent throughout Friday and Saturday and had pace in the car. It was a case of not working the tires properly which cost them the race.
4. The RedBull drivers kept it clean this time around with Verstappen in 3rd place and Ricciardo in 5th. Haas finished best of the rest with Kevin Magnussen in 6th place. We would have imagined a better result for the team had Grosjean kept it clean in the first lap.
5. Charles Leclerc scoring points again for Sauber. Fantastic drive from the young Formula 2 Champion. Showing his talent and skill now that he has settled into the car.

- What to look for in Monaco?

The last two corners of the Circuit de Catalunya very much have the layout of a street circuit with low speed 90 degree corners and chicanes. The cars that performed the best in this sector are mostly likely to perform well in Monaco as well — For a street circuit, the car will not be relying on downforce but solely on mechanical grip. The tire and suspension setup will be key to unlocking the best out of the car. The whole Race weekend, if there was one team who were the fastest in the last sector, that was RedBull.

Even though, this week was a dominant performance by Mercedes, they are by no means favorites at Monaco and have struggled in the past as well.

RedBull and Ferrari look likely to do well and we will have to wait and see how the upgrades can propel the other teams forward.

P.S Ferrari will have to revert to their original wing-mirror design as the FIA have not allowed their upgrade. Apparently the wing mirror fixture was only supposed to act as a fixture but after finding out that it was providing an aerodynamic advantage, they have rejected the upgrade. So that will be the last time we see the Halo mounted mirrors.

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