F1 LIVE | Hamilton v Verstappen for the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Formula 1 continues with the fourth race of the season on Sunday afternoon. In Spain, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will once again battle it out, while Valtteri Bottas looks to remain in the mix from P3. On the day after Hamilton secured his 100th pole position in F1, Verstappen will be left alone to fight the Mercedes with Sergio Perez starting from eighth on the grid.
Liveblog - Spanish Grand Prix
The battle continues
Hamilton set the fastest time on Saturday afternoon and will start from pole position in Spain for the 100th. Verstappen came up just short and had to settle for one place behind Hamilton. Bottas, Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon also drove excellent laps in Barcelona and therefore complete the top five.
Sergio Pérez had a poor qualifying session by only achieving an eighth starting position though he said he didn't feel 100%. The Mexican driver spun in Q3 and therefore only had one lap to make up for his mistake. He then climbed from tenth to eighth place, but that proved to be the highest the driver could achieve. Pérez starts the race between McLaren drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris.
Over the weekend, it seemed as if Mercedes were starting to gain a little bit of control on the world championship, but Verstappen remains well within the mix with a strong Saturday performance. Hamilton currently has an eight-point lead over his Dutch rival in the world championship. Norris is currently third in the championship.
Should Hamilton win the Grand Prix, the seven-time world champion will become only the second driver ever to win five consecutive races at the same Grand Prix. Ayrton Senna previously managed five straight wins in the Monaco Grand Prix.
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Midfield
Behind the top drivers, it is equally exciting. McLaren have led the way in the constructors battle for third place in the championship, but this weekend Ferrari seem to have the stronger car. With Ocon in the top five, Alpine also look to bring themselves into the fight after a poor start in Bahrain.
Pierre Gasly has looked strong in his AlphaTauri but has only scored seven points in the three races. Aston Martin looked much improved in Imola and Portugal, but Sebastian Vettel is still yet to score a point for his new team.