That ninth-place finish is huge as Alfa Romeo hasn’t scored points since Australia, and the overall performance showed Zhou’s growth. It came to a late battle with Yuki Tsunoda, in which the AlphaTauri driver caught a penalty for forcing Zhou off the track. He started the race 13th but quickly moved up several spots after a strong first lap - and fought to stay within points reach. Though Zhou was knocked out of Q2, he missed Q3 by just a couple of tenths. The team has struggled to secure a points finish this season, similar to the likes of Haas and AlphaTauri, and brought upgrades to Spain in hopes of improving their performance. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)Ī ninth-place finish may not seem like much, but those two points are a big deal for Zhou Guanyu and Alfa Romeo. At the very least, it’s a really big step forward for Hamilton and a result that can lift the entire team. We could well look back on this result as a turning point for Mercedes. But the ease with which he picked off Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and then pull away into the distance indicated a comfort over the longer distances that hasn’t been there for quite some time. Mercedes is still working to understand the boost provided by the W14’s upgrade package, and Hamilton was quick to stress it was too early to draw any big conclusions. His second place in Australia was a great display, but this one was vintage Hamilton: hassle-free, cleanly executed, doing all he could with the car at his disposal. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)įor Lewis Hamilton to declare after his run to P2 the Mercedes car felt the best it had in 18 months speaks to the significance of this result. On a more sentimental note, Verstappen logged his 40th win at the race where his Red Bull journey began seven years ago (and where he secured his first F1 victory). Yes, he exceeded track limits enough times to warrant the threat of a five-second penalty, but he went and recorded the fastest lap anyway. He grew a healthy lead - one strong enough that when he pitted, he came out still several seconds ahead of the second place car. However, what is arguably the most impressive aspect of his weekend is his tire management.Ĭircuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is known for chewing up rubber, and as the other top 10 drivers started on softs, Verstappen opted for the medium compound. The Red Bull driver topped all time sheets aside from Q1 and led every lap of the Spanish Grand Prix by a sizable margin. The RB19 continues to blow away the competition, and Max Verstappen extracted top performance once again as he navigated a near perfect weekend. With a near-perfect weekend in Spain, F1's Max Verstappen hits his groove 1.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |