Spanish Grand Prix
Venue: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Dates: 30 Might-1 June Race begin: 14:00 BST on Sunday
Protection: Stay commentary of apply and qualifying on BBC Radio 5 Sports activities Further 2 and three, with race on BBC Radio 5 Stay; reside textual content updates on BBC Sport web site and app
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McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed his second win of the season on the with Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri finishing the highest three.
Pink Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen completed fourth.
Final up on this European triple-header is the Spanish Grand Prix, from 30 Might-1 June.
Earlier than the race in Barcelona, BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson solutions your newest questions.
Do you suppose the Monaco Grand Prix would have been any higher with out the obligatory two-stop rule? – Sukhpal
The launched for the Monaco Grand Prix this yr was a requirement to make use of three units of tyres within the race.
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The thought was to extend the variety of strategic choices out there, successfully power groups to do two stops and manufacture additional jeopardy.
On that foundation, it labored, up to a degree.
All weekend, groups have been speaking in regards to the sheer variety of strategic potentialities within the race. And after the race, McLaren staff principal Andrea Stella stated: “There was a really massive number of situations. So on this sense I feel it was attention-grabbing.”
Whether or not this made the race higher for spectators is a distinct query.
And whereas the rule change elevated the nervousness and examined the brainpower of the technique engineers, it made no distinction to the outcome – the one adjustments within the order of the highest 10 have been Lewis Hamilton making up his grid penalty and Fernando Alonso retiring.
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There may be an argument that, in some methods, the rule made the race worse, as a result of it elevated the chance for groups to ‘recreation’ the outcome through the use of their drivers strategically.
Racing Bulls began this, through the use of Liam Lawson to again up the pack to make sure Isack Hadjar might pit with out shedding place, earlier than Hadjar returned the favour.
As a result of they’d, Williams then did the identical – after which Mercedes.
Some drivers weren’t comfy about this.
Williams’ Alex Albon stated: “I do know we placed on a nasty present for everybody, and I do know we made a couple of offended drivers behind us within the course of as effectively.
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“The 2-stop simply made us do it twice, reasonably than as soon as. Simply irritating. Apologies to everybody who watched that. That wasn’t very fairly.”
Their staff boss James Vowles even apologised to Mercedes’ Toto Wolff mid-race. Wolff stated: “Yeah, I [was] despatched a textual content within the race. He stated: ‘I am sorry. We had no selection given what occurred forward’.
“I answered: ‘We all know’.
“He had two automobiles within the factors, and I feel that when it began was when the RBs backed us up. So that’s what he needed to do.”
After which there was the truth that it additionally made it simpler for F1’s controversial red-flag tyre-change rule to be exploited, extra of which within the subsequent reply.
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The difficulty on the backside of all that is the impossibility of overtaking at Monaco, an issue that has existed for about 50 years, as Lando Norris identified, and isn’t solely attributable to the scale of the present automobiles, though that has made it even worse.
So, it must be requested – is it proper to introduce such synthetic gimmicks to attempt to repair an issue that’s unfixable with out monitor adjustments? And is Monaco damaged, anyway?
As Max Verstappen put it: “In fact I get it, however I do not suppose it has labored. You’ll be able to’t race right here anyway, so it would not matter what you do. One cease, 10 stops.
“We have been nearly doing Mario Kart. Then now we have to put in bits on the automobile. Perhaps you’ll be able to throw bananas round. I do not know. Slippery floor.”
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As many drivers have been hoping for a red-flag occasion to supply the chance for a ‘free’ cease to alter tyres, absolutely it’s time to ban tyre adjustments (besides moist to dry or dry to moist) underneath red-flag situations? – Paul
The rule that Pink Bull tried to take advantage of within the Monaco Grand Prix has been round for years, and stays controversial.
Pink Bull’s plan was to go away Verstappen out so long as doable, a transfer which gave him the lead because the McLaren drivers and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc needed to pit as a part of their very own strategic battle to not lose place to one another.
That left the door open to Pink Bull to take a danger.
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Pink Bull knew that in the event that they delayed Verstappen’s cease. and there was a pink flag earlier than the tip of the race, he would get a free tyre change and win the race, so long as he did not lose the lead off the road on the restart.
Race-winner Lando Norris addressed this in reasonably sardonic model after the race. “What can I do? Nothing,” he stated. “It is out of my management. No actual level interested by it. If it occurred, it occurred. He wins Monaco, effectively performed.”
This isn’t the primary time this has occurred at Monaco.
In 2011, for instance, the race was constructing to an thrilling climax, with Pink Bull’s Sebastian Vettel making an attempt to make a really outdated set of tyres attain the tip, and being chased down by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso on more energizing tyres – and McLaren’s Jenson Button on even more energizing ones.
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However then there was a crash and a pink flag, and all of the jeopardy went out of the window.
There have been calls then for the rule to be modified. However it’s in place on security grounds – on the idea that it could be harmful to go away automobiles on outdated tyres after a giant crash as a result of the tyres may very well be broken and liable to puncture.
In the meanwhile, there appears no momentum to alter it.
Had been the staff ways utilized by Racing Bulls and Williams at Monaco – of 1 automobile slowing right down to construct a niche to permit your team-mate to pit and retain place – due to the two-stop rule, or simply as a result of Monaco is so troublesome to overhaul? Even when the two-stop trial is just not continued, may we see this tactic proceed in future years? – Chris
This tactic – explored in additional element above – has been used quite a few instances previously, and a few of these have been at Monaco.
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The problem of overtaking at Monaco makes its use a slam dunk, as a result of there’s actually no probability of the motive force doing it being handed.
And the two-stop rule merely meant groups might exploit it extra successfully with two automobiles, as a result of every had two stops to play with – not only one.
If the rule is just not modified, it is onerous to think about that groups would cease utilizing it. Why would they? It banks factors.
What has occurred to Mercedes’ tempo previously few races? They began the season robust however appear to have fallen again – Kathryn
After a comparatively promising begin to the season, with 4 podiums within the first six races for George Russell, and a dash pole for Kimi Antonelli in Miami, Mercedes have had two troublesome races in Imola and Monaco.
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Russell certified effectively in Imola in third, however fell again with extreme tyre degradation after Mercedes obtained their set-up unsuitable.
Wolff stated in Monaco about Imola: “We obtained our automobile in a totally unsuitable place. It is at all times painful to search out out in a autopsy what you probably did unsuitable. However I assume we all know that we simply actually screwed that up, and gave the drivers a automobile that was very troublesome.
“We overheated the tyres, massively, and that is why we underperformed.”
Monaco was unhealthy luck as a lot as something. Antonelli crashed in qualifying. Russell struggled in apply however, after making adjustments to the automobile for qualifying, he stated it got here alive.
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He seemed fast and prone to problem for the entrance two rows of the grid till {the electrical} drawback that brought about his engine to chop out after going over a bump within the second a part of qualifying.
Wolff stated: “We have seen, not solely with us, but in addition with Pink Bull, Ferrari, you instantly lose slightly little bit of your means and also you come into some sort of state the place you are unsure anymore whether or not an improve works or whether or not it is the ambient situations that have you ever over.
“It was at all times the new races which have been our Achilles’ heel final yr. And the chilly ones, we dominated. So we are going to assess. Let’s have a look at how Barcelona goes and the next races.
“Undoubtedly, it is much less of a efficiency than we had pre-Miami.”
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Why probably drop Imola from the 2026 calendar? It is extra attention-grabbing than a lot of the different so-called avenue circuits that seem like laptop video games – Wilfrid
The straightforward reply is that F1 boss Stefano Domenicali feels 24 races is a most past which it might be unwise to go, and there’s stress for brand new races to return on to the calendar.
Thailand is pushing for a race in Bangkok and F1 is eager to have one in Africa, though discovering a location there’s proving problematic.
In that situation, it is onerous to justify having two races in a single European nation, even whether it is Italy.
Monza is just about sacrosanct because the venue for the Italian Grand Prix, and Imola returned solely due to the circumstances of the pandemic in 2020 – after which remained, to place stress on Monza to modernise.
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Now it is Imola that should modernise. Its amenities and infrastructure are very antiquated in fashionable F1 phrases, and to carry them updated would take some huge cash the circuit would not have.
Add all that collectively and it is not onerous to see why it’s thought-about prone to drop off the calendar.
