Valtteri Bottas had a really dark F1 race – George Russell’s strange message on the team radio surprised and amused

The previous two world championships were won by Red Bull Max Verstappen drove to an overwhelming victory in the Formula 1 Spanish GP in Barcelona. The win was the Dutchman’s fifth of the season. The other two races have gone to another Red Bull driver, by Sergio Perez to names.

Mercedes drove a very strong race performance when Lewis Hamilton was another and George Russell third. Perez was unable to catch the Mercedes duo in the rest of his chase, so he was fourth.

Alfa Romeo Zhou Guanyu took two World Series points, while Valtteri Bottas came in 19th place. Bottas was at the tail end of the entire race, but at least overtook Williams in the final moments by Logan Sargeant.

– It was a long day. There was no momentum at any point. It would be nice to say why, but I don’t know, Bottas said after the race in an interview with Viaplay.

Bottas continued that yesterday’s problems in qualifying also suggest that something is wrong with the car.

– The balance is not completely wrong, but there is just no grip, especially in fast corners. The car just skids.

In Friday’s training, everything still felt good. Bottas said that no changes were made to the car during the weekend, but the Finnish driver wondered, Did something go wrong when the car’s parts were inspected and assembled during the weekend.

Bottas thought it was a good solution that he came quickly in the race to change the harder tires.

– That’s what it came down to, that there was no speed whatsoever. I was a second slower than I should have been on laps.

Verstappen led the whole race – Norris’ race was ruined at the start

Verstappen, who started from the pole position for the fourth time this season, kept his top position at the start, even though Ferrari, who started his home race from the second grid Carlos Sainz challenged strongly.

Verstappen and Perez started on medium tires, the others on soft tires. Due to a surprising time trial, Perez only started the race from grid 11.

McLaren, who drove nicely into the third square in qualifying by Lando Norris the race was ruined at the start. Norris ran into the back of Hamilton, who passed him, had to pit and fell to the tail of the group.

Bottas, who started on the 16th grid, had a bad start and dropped two places.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Williams’ Sargeant started from the pits due to the changes made to the cars. Leclerc had stayed in the 19th grid during qualifying and complained about problems with his car.

The ring game started early – Russell wondered about the wet helmet

Bottas went to the pits already on the sixth lap to change the hard tires. Many others also changed to a harder tire compound after only ten laps.

Verstappen, who started on Medium, increased his gap at the top while the others pitted. Hamilton drove a long stint on his soft tires and took second. Russell also reported that the tires are holding up well and hoped that Mercedes would rely on the one-stop tactic.

Sainz dropped to fifth after his early pit stop and wondered why he was fitted with medium tires when many others switched to hard tyres.

Verstappen pitted after 27/66 laps had been completed. He still kept his top spot. Verstappen switched to hard tires underneath, so Red Bull reacted to Mercedes’ plans to drive with a one-stop tactic.

Barcelona had unsettled weather. There was a lot of thought about the possibility of rain before and during the race. In the middle of the race, we saw an amusing radio discussion, when Russell unexpectedly reported on the team radio about water drops.

Mercedes said no others have reported rain. Russell said after a while that it was probably just sweat on his helmet.

The race was finally completed in dry weather.

After the race, Russell’s “meteorologist” skills also made other drivers, especially Verstappen, laugh. Russell covered the episode as well for Sky Sports.

– There was a bit of confusion. At the beginning of the race, I realized that my hair is not completely inside my helmet cap. So there was hair in the eyes, and it was quite annoying. Well, then I hit the brakes and noticed rain hitting my visor. Then I realized that it was a drop of sweat from my hair. And every time I braked, it hit the visor. Annoying, I sweated through the race and couldn’t wipe the sweat.

Mercedes withstood Perez’s pursuit

Sainz couldn’t match the pace of Mercedes’ Hamilton and Russell. Sainz was pitted for the second time on lap 42, when Perez moved up to fourth behind the Mercedes duo. At this stage, the main tension regarding the top was whether Perez would be able to get on the podium.

Bottas pitted again at the same time and fell to the last place in the race. Teammate Zhou was fighting for points, but it was clear early in the race that, without a miracle, Bottas would have a sixth race without points. Bottas has only reached the top ten in the season opener, when he was eighth in Bahrain.

After about 50 laps had been driven, the second pit stops were made in the battle for the podium. After them, Hamilton continued in second and Russell in third. Sainz moved up to fourth, but Perez quickly passed the Ferrari driver with his fresher and softer tires.

After 60/66 laps, Verstappen was shown the black and white flag. He was said to have broken the track limits three times already. The next fault would have brought a time penalty, but even that would not have threatened the overwhelming victory.

The Mercedes duo was able to keep Perez as a chaser until the end. Second podium of the season for Hamilton, as he was also second in Australia. Russell’s first top three finish of the season and tenth in his entire career.

After the checkered flag, Verstappen wasn’t even happy on the team radio. He just thanked his team for the weekend. Routine performance from the champion of the World Cup.

– Such a car is a great pleasure to drive. To win here, it’s incredible. A strong weekend from me and the team. Hopefully we can continue this, Verstappen summarized in the track interview.

Mercedes’ reactions at the finish line were second class. Hamilton praised his team for a “mega job”.

– What a result for our team! I just want to take my hat off to the team at the factory for how they have continued to develop. Red Bull is still a bit ahead, but we keep chasing. They are still too fast at the moment, but one step at a time, Hamilton bundled.