Ultimately, two elements decided this race – Mercedes’ superior strategy and Hamilton’s relentless pace which enabled them to carry it off.
Much has been made of Verstappen’s ‘mistakes’ this season. In Barcelona, the Dutchman was pretty much foot perfect on race day when, thankfully, track limits were far less of an issue than they have been previously in 2021.
The only minor criticism of Verstappen could be that he caught his team on the hop when he came in for a pit-stop, possibly a lap too early according to Christian Horner, which meant their usual two-second tyre change time was doubled – still pretty impressive if they genuinely were not expecting him at that moment!
Aston Martin upgrades can’t put Vettel into Q3
Date published:
May 8 2021
Sebastian Vettel said the upgrade package on his Aston Martin was “doing what it’s supposed to do” even though he failed to reach Q3 at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Last weekend in Portugal, Vettel had his best qualifying session since joining Aston Martin as he started 10th on the grid before dropping down to finish 13th in the race, leaving him still without any points this season.
But even with the aero updates which only his team-mate Lance Stroll had last time out, the four-time former World Champion was unable to make it through to the top-10 shootout at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona and will line up 13th.
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Navarra circuit ‘reminds me a lot of the BSB ones’ says Scott Redding, as the British rider and Italian team-mate Michael Ruben-Rinaldi complete their 2021 WorldSBK pre-season testing.
Aruba.it Ducati riders Scott Redding and Michael Ruben-Rinaldi complete their final preparations ahead of the 2021 World Superbike season with first outing at the Navarra circuit.
Just like the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona in 2020, Navarra will become the next Spanish race track to make its inaugural appearance on the WorldSBK calendar in late August.
Unlike most of their competitors Kawasaki, Yamaha and BMW, the factory Ducati team chose to conclude their test program in Navarra and not Aragon, having already completed two recent tests in Teruel.
The FIA Formula 2 Championship returns to action tomorrow after an exhilarating opening round in Shakir that saw rookies Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri claim Sprint Race wins on debut, and Alpine Test Driver Guanyu Zhou take home his first Feature Race victory in masterful style.
Beginning tomorrow the official three-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona will give all 22 drivers an opportunity to put their learnings from the opening round into practice ahead of the upcoming weekend in Monaco on 20 – 22 May.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Running from Friday, 23 April to Sunday, 25 April, the three days of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona will be split into a morning and afternoon session with a total of 18 hours of track time available across the weekend.