Rosberg leads Mercedes' 1-2 in Spain
Nico Rosberg wins the Spanish Grand Prix and clinches first victory of the season. Mercedes’ success was completed with Lewis Hamilton’s second place, while the last place on the podium won Sebastian Vettel in Ferrari.
Mercedes’ tactic proved better in this race and they absolutely deserved another victory over Ferrari who missed a chance to separate Rosberg, who clinched his ninth career victory, and Hamilton.
Start of the race was pretty exciting as Sebastian Vettel went in front of Lewis Hamilton who struggled to keep third position. Nico Rosberg stayed on the top, while the other Ferrari with Kimi Raikkonen also had a good start ging two places up. Soon after Felipe Massa took over both Toro Rosso’s to move up to sixth.
Pastor Maldonado drove brilliantly as he moved from 12th up to 7th, but he lost a part of his right rear wing after collided with his Lotus’ teammate Romain Grosjean, Venezuelan paid high price as he went at the bottom of the grid. McLaren didn’t looked nearly good as it looked on Friday and Saturday as Button and Alonso were far from the points zone. In lap 28 Spaniard had to retire after break problems.
At the half of the race, Rosberg had comfortable lead in front of Vettel with an dvantage of almost ten seconds, while Hamilton on third was around a second behind Ferrari driver. Far behind them were Bottas, Raikkonen and Massa.
Reigning champion was the only driver who went into pit three times what proved crucial in his battle against Vettel. German was a bit frustrated after losing second place and pushed har in the final third of the race, but it was too late for him. Bottas and Raikkonen were in battle for 4th, as teammates Verstappen and Sainz for 10th.
Fourth at the was Valtteri Bottas in front of Kimi Raikkonen. Felipe Massa had to settle with sixth, while Daniel Ricciardo must be very happy after finishing seventh. Romain Grosjean finished eighth, Carlos Sainz Jr. was ninth and remaining point went to Daniil Kvyat.
