After Race 5: Spain

If not for Sebastian Vettel, I could have copy-and-pasted what I wrote last week: “to no great surprise, Mercedes continued their dominant start to the season as they once again took pole, victory, [fastest lap,] and led every lap – no one else has done any of these things so far this season.” Of course, Vettel became the first non-Mercedes driver to score a fastest lap but there won’t be any alarm bells ringing at Merc as they once again dominated proceedings; the team are now over a quarter of the way through in their quest to win every race (something which will happen as long they get at least one car home each weekend). Before we crack on, hats off to the Anglo-German team for letting their two drivers race. The enormous chasm between them and the chasing pack allows for this, but we have seen in the past how teams have been deliberately cautious and protective in such situations.

I wasn't kidding last week when I said the Merc team celebration photo would be back!
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebook)

1. Lewis Hamilton (no change)

As mentioned in last week’s F1 Power Rankings, finding original things to write for Lewis Hamilton will prove difficult this season. His fourth consecutive win finally saw him reach the top of the championship standings ahead of what will hopefully be a fascinating Monaco Grand Prix between the Mercedes team-mates – both of whom are former winners in the Principality. Like in Sakhir, it was arguable that Lewis was out-paced by Nico Rosberg in Barcelona but he still managed to secure the victory.

2. Daniel Ricciardo (up one spot)

Mercedes may have recorded another 1-2 at the Circuit de Catalunya but their stranglehold atop these rankings has been loosened by Daniel Ricciardo. The Aussie finally got to take home a trophy – having lost his Aussie one to the stewards – after another flawless weekend where he once again bettered his quadruple champion team-mate’s performance. Credit his tyre management in his middle stint, which allowed him to switch to a two-stopper.

I challenge you not to smile at this photo
Source: Red Bull Racing (Facebook)

3. Nico Rosberg (down one spot)

Having finally relinquished his championship lead, Rosberg also gives up P2 in the F1 Power Rankings. As mentioned above, it could be said that over the last four races, Hamilton and Rosberg have been quicker on alternate Sundays. The difference is, Lewis has always had track position and has thus beaten his team-mate. Quali in Monaco will be critical.

4. Daniil Kvyat (down one spot)

It was a quiet weekend for Kvyat as Toro Rosso struggled for pace and with tyre wear. Kvyat, who turned 20 in the three-week break, ran solidly in the lower midfield throughout the weekend and kept his nose clean. The team will look for better results in both Monaco and Montreal – two tracks where they performed well in 2013.

5. Valtteri Bottas (up two spots)

It says a lot about Bottas that his superb fourth place on the grid was not even a surprise. P5 in the race was a good result; he was a tad unlucky to lose out to the resurgent Vettel but what will be of greater concern to Williams is that they have slipped significantly behind Red Bull – Bottas finished half a minute down on Ricciardo.

Bottas maintained his 100% points-scoring start to the season as he matched his career-best finish
Source: Williams F1 Team (Facebook)

6. Romain Grosjean (up two spots)

Lotus have made significant gains at each race so far in 2014 after their late start and Grosjean continued his excellent start to a difficult campaign by securing the team’s first points, having also stolen the show in quali with a magnificent P5. Indeed, he could well have finished ahead of the Ferraris on Sunday as well if not for a mid-race power unit problem.

Grosjean has led the way for Lotus this season
Source: Lotus F1 Team (Facebook)

7. Nico Hülkenberg (down four spots)

Spain proved to be a bit of a damp squib for Force India. However, while both cars missed out on Q3, it is encouraging that they both scored points on an ‘off’ weekend. The Hulk edged Checo in quali but found himself behind the Mexican at the checkered flag. A four-place drop is perhaps a tad harsh but he was in a three-way tie for third in last week’s F1 Power Rankings so a bit of a shakeup was inevitable.

8. Sebastian Vettel (up two spots)

Despite Grosjean’s heroics in the Lotus, it was Vettel who comfortably earned ‘driver of the day’ honours with a scintillating drive on Sunday afternoon. Scuppered by a gearbox problem that left him mired down in 15^th on the grid, he fought his way superbly through the field overtaking cars all over the place and collecting the aforementioned fastest lap of the race. Will this finally silence the Vettel doubters – those who say “he can’t overtake”?

This was the scene on Friday (and again on Saturday) before a superb Sunday
Source: F1 Fanatic

9. Fernando Alonso (down three spots)

¡Ay, qué pesadilla! Or, in English, what a nightmare! Outqualified by Kimi Räikkönen, Alonso failed to gain any places off the start line (despite starting on the ‘clean’ side) and spent the majority of the race glued to his team-mate’s gearbox before switching to a three-stop in an attempt to cover Vettel (which failed, but ended up giving him the tyres to pass Räikkönen). P6 was a rather disappointing, albeit not unexpected, outcome at his home race; but the alarm bells will be ringing as both cars were outqualified by a Lotus.

Let's pause for a moment, as Ferrari did (scene of Schumi's first win with them - a stunning drive in the soaking wet 1996 race), to say #KeepFightingMichael
Source: F1 Fanatic

10. Sergio Pérez (up two spots)

Force India’s weekend was discussed earlier; Checo will be heartened by the fact that he overtook his team-mate during the race and that both cars scored points despite having an underwhelming weekend.

11. Jenson Button (no change) & 12. Kevin Magnussen (up one spot)

P11 in the race, P11 in these rankings; JB is another candidate for the ‘copy-and-paste’ treatment. McLaren failed to score points for the third race running although Button did at least manage to crack Q3. Magnussen again did his best to lose his front wing on the opening lap as the two McLarens ran side-by-side (despite starting six spots apart) before he settled down into a solid race. They finished just half a second apart.

13. Felipe Massa (down four spots)

Spain turned out to be a miserable weekend for Massa. While Bottas managed to extract the most from his car on Saturday (and Sunday), Massa made a mistake which would put him on the back foot on Sunday. He couldn’t make the three-stop strategy work and ended up a dismal P13.

14. Kimi Räikkönen (up four spots)

By no means was this a memorable race for Räikkönen but it’s a performance that sees him move up four spots in this week’s F1 Power Rankings. Having been pulverized by Alonso so far this season, he managed to outqualify the Spaniard and would have likely finished ahead of him had the team also switched him onto a three-stopper. It’ll be interesting to see his reaction in Monaco and, indeed, what happens regarding strategy should a similar situation arise in the future.

The two Ferraris ran together for most of the race, led by the #7 car until the closing stages
Source: Scuderia Ferrari (Facebook)

15. Jean-Éric Vergne (no change)

It would be cruel to drop JEV after yet another dreadfully unlucky weekend. One of his wheels made a break for freedom in FP2 which saw him relegated to the back of the grid and another early exit befell the Frenchman on Sunday as his STR suffered exhaust problems. He had good memories from Monaco and Canada last season and will look to emulate them this year.

=16. Jules Bianchi (no change) & Kamui Kobayashi (down two spots)

Both drivers were surprisingly outqualified by their respective team-mates but had overtaken them by turn one. Marussia seem to have well and truly gained the upper hand over their perennial rivals and will look to build on this momentum as they try and catch the struggling Sauber team. KK’s brakes failed on Sunday which led to his early exit.

18. Max Chilton (down two spots)

While it might seem harsh that Chilton has dropped two places despite both outqualifying his team-mate and making it 24/24 in terms of finishing his F1 races, it has to be said that he undid all his good work in qualifying before the first corner. He had a superb opportunity to stamp some authority on the team and he blew it. Furthermore, it is worrying that he is now mentioning his finishing record in interviews. Of course, we rightly praise drivers for keeping their nose clean and for when teams have excellent reliability records but the question has to be asked whether Max is pushing as hard as he can? Clearly, Jules appears to be the better driver at the moment but Chilton might be driving within himself in order to preserve his record, and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

19. Marcus Ericsson (up one spot)

It’s a season-high 19^th in this week’s F1 Power Rankings for the young Swede as he finally edged out his more experienced team-mate in qualifying.

Ericsson finally outqualified KK
Source: Caterham F1 Team (Facebook)

20. Esteban Gutiérrez (down one spot) & 21. Adrian Sutil (no change)

Sauber brought a lighter chassis to Barcelona but it made little difference. It was another anonymous weekend for the Swiss team as they continued their horrific start to 2014. Guti again had the edge on Sutil (interestingly, the gap between the drivers could {at least in part} be down to their individual weights); the Mexican qualified a solid 13^th and also made a good start but was then mugged by several cars. Oh, and Giedo van der Garde suffered a brake failure in FP1. It was a birthday weekend to forget for Monisha Kaltenborn.

Hopefully the cake was tasty...
Source: Sauber F1 Team (Facebook)

22. Pastor Maldonado (no change)

Oh Pastor… The Venezuelan returned to the scene of his solitary F1 victory in 2012 amidst renewed optimism that Lotus could challenge for points. Friday went well but he then crashed out in Q1 and picked up an early penalty on Sunday for clashing with Ericsson. He’s traditionally flourished at Monaco – and he needs a confidence boost now more than ever.

My main dilemma was do I pick a photo of the Lotus on a truck or hanging on the crane?
Source: Sky Sports F1

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