F1 2018: Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes crush the field with a 1-2 at the Spanish Grand Prix
Ferrari were well and truly off the pace in the Spanish Grand Prix and unable to even get on the podium as Sebastian Vettel now stares at a 17-point deficit to Mercedes AMG F1's Lewis Hamilton who led a dominant 1-2 finish ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull-Renault's Max Verstappen.
By autoX Editorial
Sebastian Vettel had stated that he was not too concerned about losing out on a win at the previous round in Baku and dropping 13 points by finishing fourth after his overcommitted passing attempt on Valtteri Bottas. Well, with Ferrari well and truly off the pace in the Spanish Grand Prix and unable to even get on the podium, Vettel now stares at a 17-point deficit to Mercedes AMG F1's Lewis Hamilton who led a dominant 1-2 finish ahead of teammate Bottas and Red Bull-Renault's Max Verstappen.
The race started in chaotic fashion as Romain Grosjean lost control of his Haas-Ferrari and while spinning and smoking his tyres, spun into the path of Renault F1's Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso-Honda's Pierre Gasly. All three cars suffered heavy damage and the race was immediately brought under the control of the safety car.
By this point, Vettel had gotten ahead of Bottas for scond place and was hoping to chase after Lewis Hamilton who had maintained his lead from pole position.
However, Hamilton poured cold water on any hope of a Ferrari win by putting the hammer down and leaving Vettel in the dust while the German came under pressure from Bottas.
Soon it became just one Ferrari in the hunt for a podium finish as Kimi Raikkonen was forced to retire with mechanical issues. Earlier than planned pit stops for Vettel meant that ultimately he had to concede not only second place to Bottas but also third to Verstappen.
The Dutchman managed to keep his nose clean - well, almost as he lost a part of his front wing towards the end of the 66-lap race - and make up for the incidents that had brought scrutiny to his driving style.
In fifth place behind Vettel was Red Bull-Renault's Daniel Ricciardo, who had a pretty anonymous race after being the centre point in two of the most exciting F1 races in recent memory in China and Azerbaijan.
Haas-Ferrari's Kevin Magnussen, Renault F1's Carlos Sainz Jr, McLaren-Renault's Fernando Alonso, Force India-Mercedes' Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc of Alfa Romeo Sauber-Ferrari completed the top ten.
