2021 Spanish Grand Prix

The 2021 Spanish Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021) was a Formula One motor race which took place on 9 May 2021 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. The race was the fourth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. The race was won by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton from pole position ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas. The win allowed Hamilton to extend his Championship lead over Verstappen to 14 points.

2021 Spanish Grand Prix
Race 4 of 22[a] in the 2021 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Layout of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Race details
Date	9 May 2021
Official name	Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021
Location	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.675 km (2.905 miles)
Distance	66 laps, 308.424 km (191.646 miles)
Weather	Cloudy
Attendance	0[b]
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Time	1:16.741
Fastest lap
Driver	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time	1:18.149 on lap 62 (lap record)
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Second	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda
Third	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Lap leaders

Background

Further information: 2021 Formula One World Championship § Entries, and COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

A satellite image of the Circuit de Catalunya in 2018, before the tenth turn was altered.

The race was the fourth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship, the 61st edition of the Spanish Grand Prix, the 51st time it featured as a round of the World Championship, and the 31st time the Spanish Grand Prix took place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. This was the first Formula One race held on this layout of the circuit, with turn 10 having been remodelled from a tight hairpin into a faster curve, to improve safety for drivers.^[4]

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.^[5] Robert Kubica drove in the first practice session for Alfa Romeo Racing in place of Kimi Räikkönen,^[6] while Roy Nissany drove for Williams, replacing George Russell.^[7] Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2 and C3 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium and soft respectively) for teams to use at the event.^[8] Heading into the race, Lewis Hamilton was leading the Drivers' Championship with 69 points, ahead of Max Verstappen on 61 and Lando Norris on 37. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led on 101 points ahead of Red Bull on 83 and McLaren on 53.^[9]

Practice

As usual, the event had three practice sessions, each lasting one hour. The first practice session started at 11:30 local time (UTC+02:00) on 7 May and ended with Valtteri Bottas fastest in his Mercedes ahead of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and Bottas' teammate Lewis Hamilton; Nikita Mazepin and Kubica both briefly lost control in minor incidents.^[10] The second practice session started at 15:00 local time and ended with Hamilton fastest ahead of Bottas and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.^[11] The third practice session, which started at 12:00 local time the following day, ended with Verstappen top, ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc.^[12][13]

Qualifying

Qualifying started at 15:00 local time (UTC+02:00) on 8 May.^[14] Lewis Hamilton set provisional pole position in his Q3 first flying lap. Hamilton was followed by Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas. None of the three drivers were able to improve their times in their subsequent laps, and Hamilton earned his 100th pole position.^[15]

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:18.245	1:17.166	1:16.741	1
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:18.090	1:16.922	1:16.777	2
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:18.005	1:17.142	1:16.873	3
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:18.041	1:17.717	1:17.510	4
5	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:18.281	1:17.743	1:17.580	5
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1:18.205	1:17.656	1:17.620	6
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1:18.264	1:17.719	1:17.622	7
8	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:18.203	1:17.669	1:17.701	8
9	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:17.821	1:17.696	1:18.010	9
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1:18.281	1:17.966	1:18.147	10
11	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:18.241	1:17.974	N/A	11
12	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:18.190	1:17.982	N/A	12
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:18.289	1:18.079	N/A	13
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	1:18.549	1:18.356	N/A	14
15	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:18.445	1:19.154	N/A	15
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:18.556	N/A	N/A	16
17	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	1:18.917	N/A	N/A	17
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1:19.117	N/A	N/A	18
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1:19.219	N/A	N/A	19
20	9	Nikita Mazepin[c]	Haas-Ferrari	1:19.807	N/A	N/A	201
107% time: 1:23.268
Source:[17][18]

Notes

• ^1 – Nikita Mazepin received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris in Q1. The penalty was not in force as he started the race from the last position.^[19]

Race

The race started at 15:00 local time (UTC+02:00) and was held over 66 laps.^[14]

Verstappen overtook Hamilton on the first corner. On lap 8, Tsunaoda's engine stopped, bringing out the safety car. Pitstops began with Giovinazzi, who had a really long stop after one of his mechanics realized that one of the tyres was deflated and therefore they needed to get a new full set of tyres. He was followed by the two Williams double stacking. The race resumed by lap 11 and Gasly received a 5 second penalty for stopping our of position on the grid at the start of the race.

Gasly pitted in lap 19, serving his penalty and falling to last. And in lap 22, Vettel and Alonso triggered the pitstop window. Followed by Stroll, Sainz, Mazepin, Ocon, Norris, Schumacher, Bottas and Ricciardo in the following laps. Race leader Verstappen, pitted in lap 25 while Hamilton stayed out taking the lead. The stop was slow, and he came out behind his teammate Perez, who quickly let him pass and pitted in lap 28.

Hamilton changed tyres in lap 29 -so did Leclerc- and came out 5 seconds behind Verstappen, which meant the overcut had not been effective. It also meant that Bottas was now third and both Mercedes began closing on Verstappen.

By lap 43, after 10 laps within one second of Verstappen, Hamilton decided to pit again, commiting to a two stop strategy, while Red Bull kept Verstappen out. Simultaneously, Perez finally overtook Ricciardo for fifth, and Leclerc was able to keep his position in fourth. Hamilton with better tyres, finally overtook Verstappen in lap 60, and since Bottas had already pitted again, Verstappen could get a free stop and push for the fastest lap.

The top ten was rounded by Ricciardo, Sainz, Norris, Ocon and Gasly.

Race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	66	1:33:07.680	1	25
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	66	+15.841	2	191
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	66	+26.610	3	15
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	66	+54.616	4	12
5	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	66	+1:03.671	8	10
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	66	+1:13.768	7	8
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	66	+1:14.670	6	6
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	65	+1 lap	9	4
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	65	+1 lap	5	2
10	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	65	+1 lap	12	1
11	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	65	+1 lap	11
12	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	65	+1 lap	17
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	65	+1 lap	13
14	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	65	+1 lap	15
15	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	65	+1 lap	14
16	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	65	+1 lap	19
17	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	65	+1 lap	10
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	64	+2 laps	18
19	9	Nikita Mazepin[c]	Haas-Ferrari	64	+2 laps	20
Ret	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	6	Electrics	16
Fastest lap: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing-Honda) – 1:18.149 (lap 62)
Source:[18][20][21]

Notes

• ^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton 94 2 Max Verstappen 80 1 3 Valtteri Bottas 47 1 4 Lando Norris 41 5 Charles Leclerc 40 Source:[22]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 141 2 Red Bull Racing-Honda 112 3 McLaren-Mercedes 65 4 Ferrari 60 5 Alpine-Renault 15 Source:[22]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

• 2021 Barcelona Formula 3 round

Notes

1. At the time of the event Formula One planned to hold twenty-three Grands Prix.^[1]
2. The Grand Prix was held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.^{[citation needed]} Because of a change to the attendance protocol in Barcelona, the event received approval for a crowd of 1,000.^[2] Those in audience at the race were members of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya that needed to apply for attendance.^[3]
3. Nikita Mazepin is Russian, but he competed as a neutral competitor using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to the state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.^[16]

References

1. Smith, Luke (28 August 2021). "Formula 1 reveals updated 2021 calendar, drops to 22 races". Autosport. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
2. "Barcelona gets approval for 1,000 fans on race day". Motorsport Week. 3 May 2021. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
3. "Fans given go-ahead to attend Spanish GP". planetf1.com. 3 May 2021. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
4. "Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya complete remodelling of Turn 10". formula1.com. 1 February 2021. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
5. "2021 Spanish Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 6 May 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
6. Alex Kalinauckas (4 May 2021). "Kubica gets Barcelona FP1 outing with Alfa Romeo". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
7. "Kubica, Nissany to get FP1 runs in Spain". planetf1.com. 4 May 2021. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
8. Jonathan Noble (19 February 2021). "Pirelli reveals tyre compound choices for F1 2021". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
9. "Portugal 2021 - Championship". www.statsf1.com. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
10. Benson, Andrew (7 May 2021). "Bottas tops first practice in Spain". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
11. Cary, Tom; Slater, Luke (7 May 2021). "Lewis Hamilton on top after Spanish GP practice as Red Bull talent grab rocks Mercedes". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
12. "2021 Spanish Grand Prix Information". Formula 1. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
13. Henry, Matthew (8 May 2021). "2021 Spanish GP FP3 and Qualifying, as it happened". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
14. "Spain timetable". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
15. "Formula 1's Spanish Grand Prix qualifying: Lewis Hamilton on pole and full starting grid". Marca. 8 May 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
16. Luke Smith (5 February 2021). "Mazepin set to race under neutral flag after CAS ruling extends to F1". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
17. "Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 8 May 2021. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
18. "Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021 – Starting Grid". Formula1.com. 8 May 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
19. "Mazepin penalised by stewards for blocking Norris in qualifying". Formula1.com. 8 May 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
20. "Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021 – Race Result". Formula1.com. 9 May 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
21. "Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021 – Fastest Laps". Formula1.com. 9 May 2021. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
22. "Spain 2021 - Championship". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.

External links

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