Mercedes were expected to dominate at Barcelona, and Nico Rosberg did, but the race turned on Lewis Hamilton's bad getaway and a hot weekend that tested the tyres.
Nico Rosberg won the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix on 10 May 2015 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmelo, Spain, starting from pole. Lewis Hamilton finished second after a poor start, and Sebastian Vettel took third for Ferrari, 45 seconds behind the winner.
Nico Rosberg won the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, a result that gave him his first win of 2015 and the ninth victory of his career. Mercedes had looked like the team to beat on the Catalan circuit, yet the afternoon turned on Lewis Hamilton's poor getaway, which left him stuck behind Sebastian Vettel. Rosberg led for most of the race while the heat worked against every tyre on the grid.
Why did Mercedes start as favourites in Barcelona?
Mercedes had enjoyed its biggest per-lap advantage at Catalunya in 2014, and the team had shown strong form in both pre-season tests there. Renault had a more urgent problem, with Daniel Ricciardo on his final power unit after four races. Ferrari and McLaren arrived with new parts and a new livery.
Renault had introduced a modified engine aimed at better reliability and drivability.Ferrari's new parts did not settle Kimi Raikkonen, who switched back to the older setup for practice three, and he later conceded that the new parts might have been better.McLaren's dark grey livery was meant to stand out under the floodlights that were becoming more common at twilight and night races.
Pirelli stayed with the hard and medium compounds, the same pair it had supplied a year earlier. The Spanish Grand Prix was the fifth round of the season and the 45th time the race had counted towards the world championship.
A bad start cost Hamilton the chance to chase Rosberg, and Rosberg made the most of a pole he needed.
How did the heat affect practice?
Track temperature rose by more than 20 degrees Celsius (36 Fahrenheit) during the Friday afternoon session, reaching almost 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). Grip was scarce and many drivers complained about it, while Rosberg had been quickest on Friday morning, 0.07 seconds ahead of Hamilton.
Friday morning also drew the stewards' interest when Rosberg failed to keep left of a bollard at the pit lane entrance.Hamilton was quickest in the afternoon session. Vettel split the two Mercedes cars on the timesheet, with Rosberg further back, and Daniel Ricciardo's engine had to be changed mid-session, which left him with only 10 minutes of running.
Three test drivers took part in practice. Jolyon Palmer stood in for Romain Grosjean at Lotus, Raffaele Marciello drove for Sauber, and Susie Wolff made her debut for Williams, finishing eight-tenths behind Felipe Massa. Jenson Button was seventh and Fernando Alonso eleventh in the afternoon session for McLaren, and Romain Grosjean's engine cover shattered on the straight, bringing out a red flag.
Saturday morning showed that Mercedes' advantage was smaller on the medium tyres than on the hard ones. Vettel got within two-tenths of Rosberg, who was fastest, while Hamilton spun at turn three and still finished third fastest. Raikkonen was fifth and again asked his team how the settings could be wrong.
How did Rosberg take pole in qualifying?
Rosberg took provisional pole on his first run in the final part, a quarter of a second ahead of Hamilton, and neither driver could improve on their second attempt. It was his first pole of the season and his 16th in total, and it meant Hamilton did not start from the front for the first time in 2015.
Qualifying ran in three parts of 18, 15 and 12 minutes, with five drivers eliminated after each of the first two. Mercedes got through the first part without needing the softer, faster compound. Both McLarens reached Q2 for the first time in 2015, and the Manor Marussia pair finished at the back, with Will Stevens 19th and almost three seconds off the next slowest car.
Massa and Raikkonen did not have a spare set of fresh tyres for the final part, and the Toro Rosso drivers took the third row. Toro Rosso were delighted with the result, although Carlos Sainz Jr said he had not expected the car to do so well on race day.
Why did pole position matter so much at Barcelona?
Pole was statistically more important here than at Monaco, and Rosberg knew it. He was 27 points behind Hamilton in the championship, so he said he needed the pole sooner rather than later. Starting from the front also meant Rosberg would set the pace from the first corner.
How the race unfolded
Hamilton did not get away well and handed second place to Vettel at the start, while also facing pressure from Valtteri Bottas. Rosberg held the lead as the field worked through the opening corners without incident. Raikkonen had a strong first lap and moved up to fifth, while the Toro Rosso drivers were unable to build on their qualifying and drifted down the order.
As Rosberg built a lead at the front, Hamilton reported to his team that passing Vettel on track was impossible.Mercedes moved him onto a three-stop plan from lap 14, but his first stop went wrong because of a wheel nut problem. Rosberg pitted two laps later without trouble, and Hamilton spent the middle of the race trying to get past Vettel without success.
Further back, the two Lotus cars touched during the opening laps, damaging Pastor Maldonado's rear wing. He retired on lap 47. Fernando Alonso had already retired when a torn-off visor lodged in his rear brake, and Red Bull, who had qualified behind Toro Rosso, made up ground to finish seventh and tenth.
How did Rosberg keep his lead to the flag?
Rosberg made his second and final stop on lap 46 and emerged a few seconds ahead of Hamilton, who moved past him almost at once. Hamilton made his last stop on lap 51, comfortably keeping second place ahead of Vettel's Ferrari, and then chased Rosberg. Rosberg's 19-second cushion was too big to close in the last 14 laps.
Raikkonen had stayed on the hard tyre in his middle stint, and he chased Bottas hard over the final laps without getting past. He finished fifth, lamenting his poor qualifying. Vettel took third, finishing 45 seconds behind the winner.
The win also meant the race had produced a different winner in each year of a long recent run, and Rosberg was the latest name on that list.
Barcelona 2015 at a glance
| Detail | Result |
|---|---|
| Round | Fifth of the 2015 season |
| Date | 10 May 2015 |
| Pole | Nico Rosberg, 16th career pole |
| Winner | Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), ninth career win |
| Second | Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) |
| Third | Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), 45 seconds behind Rosberg |
| Fifth | Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) |
| Seventh and tenth | Red Bull |
What did the drivers say after the race?
Rosberg called it a perfect weekend during his podium interview. Hamilton said it had been a long time since he had made such a poor start, and he explained how difficult it was to overtake on this circuit. Vettel admitted that Hamilton's first stop going wrong was what kept him ahead.
Raikkonen called running the old setup a sacrifice for the team, and said the two-car approach had taught the squad a great deal. He felt the circuit suited Mercedes better, with more downforce and raw speed, and was not too worried about the bigger than normal gap to the winner.
Red Bull and the engine row
Red Bull repeated their threats to quit Formula One after another difficult weekend. Constant problems with the underpowered Renault units were the root of their frustration.Their motorsport adviser, Helmut Marko, said that without a competitive engine soon, either Audi would arrive or Red Bull would be out. Audi had said just two weeks earlier that it had no plans to enter the sport.
Team principal Christian Horner had already labelled the 2015 season a write-off because of engine reliability. The threats repeated warnings Red Bull had voiced earlier in the season.
