Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix
Photo by Formula 1
The return to the top step for the greatest of all time, another wrench in the championship fight, and one of the unluckiest DNF’s I’ve ever seen.
It may have not been the greatest race of all time, but it was a fun one!
Here are the winners & losers from Sunday’s race.
Losers
5. Kimi Antonelli
Look, he has to go into the losers spot, because his engine failed and he ended up with zero points, as well as losing ground on his championship rivals.
However, he still made a tremendous overtake on his teammate to move into 2nd and looked to be extending that gap before his engine failed.
So it’s hard to punish him too much.
4 Alex Albon
It has been a frustrating couple of weeks for Albon.
Monaco was incredibly frustrating, and Spain found him not classified in the race because he finished 11 laps down.
I can’t remember the last time I saw a driver actually finish the race while being 11 laps down.
3. Lance Stroll
It’s been a tough year for Aston Martin.
Well, it’s been a disastrous year for Aston Martin.
But, on the plus side, Lance Stroll finally out qualified his teammate Fernando Alonso. It was still only 21st out of 22 drivers, but that’s something!
How did Lance feel about it?
Well, he was asked about it afterwards and his response was “I don’t care.”
And he followed it with “I don’t know. I don’t give a shit.”
Great stuff, Lance!
2. Charles Leclerc
It’s one thing to not have a great race.
It’s another thing to not have a great race, and crash out to end up with zero points.
It’s ANOTHER thing when you’re comprehensively beaten by your teammate as well.
That’s what has happened to Charles Leclerc on back to back weeks now.
Just a brutal couple of weeks.
1. Nico Hulkenberg
This may be the craziest DNF I can remember.
Nico Hulkenberg was running in the points, and on pace to get his first points of the season.
He was following behind Liam Lawson, and Lawson got into the gravel a little bit. Nothing too bad. It happens all the time.
Except this time, a piece of gravel not only hit Hulkenberg’s car, but it hit a kill switch on Hulkenberg’s car that shut it off entirely and made him retire from the race.
I have never seen a DNF like that before, and it’s such a cruel way to miss out on points.
Kind of sums up his career, though.
Winners
5. George Russell
For the first time in a long time, George Russell outperformed his teammate over the weekend.
That’s good, except it only happened due to Antonelli having a mechanical failure.
If not for that, Russell would have been beaten again.
He has to find an extra gear, but this helps.
4. Franco Colapinto
Another week, another points finish for Colapinto.
He’s had some great races as of late, and it looks like he might find a way to stick around.
3. Racing Bulls
Another double points finish for Racing Bulls!
Not only is it great for the constructors standings, but it’s great for their pair of young drivers to keep building their confidence for the future.
2. Pierre Gasly
Gasly had a good points finish, but he also got his podium back for Monaco!
I’m excited to see that change next race after the appeals from other teams go through and it’s taken away again!
1. Lewis Hamilton
30 years ago, Michael Schumacher won his first ever race for Ferrari in Barcelona.
And now, Lewis Hamilton joins him.
After a few years of Hamilton not looking like the driver we all knew and loved, he has turned a corner and found a lot of pace and confidence recently.
Not only is it great to see because he’s an excellent driver and a good person, but it also might just throw another wrench into this title fight.
A Mercedes vs Ferrari title fight involving Lewis Hamilton.
It’s how it should be.
