2021 Spanish Grand Prix

The 2021 Spanish Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021) was a Formula One motor race which took place on 9 May 2021 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. The race was the fourth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. The race was won by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton from pole position ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas. The win allowed Hamilton to extend his Championship lead over Verstappen to 14 points.

2021 Spanish Grand Prix
Race 4 of 22[lower-alpha 1] in the 2021 Formula One World Championship
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Layout of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Layout of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Race details
Date 9 May 2021
Official name Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021
Location Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.675 km (2.905 miles)
Distance 66 laps, 308.424 km (191.646 miles)
Weather Cloudy
Attendance 0[lower-alpha 2]
Pole position
Driver
Mercedes
Time 1:16.741
Fastest lap
Driver Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time 1:18.149 on lap 62 (lap record)
Podium
First
Mercedes
Second
Red Bull Racing-Honda
Third
Mercedes
Lap leaders

Background
Further information: 2021 Formula One World Championship § Entries, and COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
A tarmac course lined with gravel run-off areas featuring a large pit and paddock complex and several large grandstands.
A satellite image of the Circuit de Catalunya in 2018, before the tenth turn was altered.

The race was the fourth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship, the 61st edition of the Spanish Grand Prix, the 51st time it featured as a round of the World Championship, and the 31st time the Spanish Grand Prix took place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. This was the first Formula One race held on this layout of the circuit, with turn 10 having been remodelled from a tight hairpin into a faster curve, to improve safety for drivers.[4]

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.[5] Robert Kubica drove in the first practice session for Alfa Romeo Racing in place of Kimi Räikkönen,[6] while Roy Nissany drove for Williams, replacing George Russell.[7] Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2 and C3 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium and soft respectively) for teams to use at the event.[8] Heading into the race, Lewis Hamilton was leading the Drivers' Championship with 69 points, ahead of Max Verstappen on 61 and Lando Norris on 37. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led on 101 points ahead of Red Bull on 83 and McLaren on 53.[9]

Practice

As usual, the event had three practice sessions, each lasting one hour. The first practice session started at 11:30 local time (UTC+02:00) on 7 May and ended with Valtteri Bottas fastest in his Mercedes ahead of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and Bottas' teammate Lewis Hamilton; Nikita Mazepin and Kubica both briefly lost control in minor incidents.[10] The second practice session started at 15:00 local time and ended with Hamilton fastest ahead of Bottas and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.[11] The third practice session, which started at 12:00 local time the following day, ended with Verstappen top, ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc.[12][13]

Qualifying

Qualifying started at 15:00 local time (UTC+02:00) on 8 May.[14] Lewis Hamilton set provisional pole position in his Q3 first flying lap. Hamilton was followed by Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas. None of the three drivers were able to improve their times in their subsequent laps, and Hamilton earned his 100th pole position.[15]

Qualifying classification
Pos. No. Driver Constructor Qualifying times Final
grid
Q1 Q2 Q3
1 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18.245 1:17.166 1:16.741 1
2 33 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:18.090 1:16.922 1:16.777 2
3 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:18.005 1:17.142 1:16.873 3
4 16 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:18.041 1:17.717 1:17.510 4
5 31 France Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 1:18.281 1:17.743 1:17.580 5
6 55 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1:18.205 1:17.656 1:17.620 6
7 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.264 1:17.719 1:17.622 7
8 11 Mexico Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:18.203 1:17.669 1:17.701 8
9 4 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.821 1:17.696 1:18.010 9
10 14 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault 1:18.281 1:17.966 1:18.147 10
11 18 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1:18.241 1:17.974 N/A 11
12 10 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 1:18.190 1:17.982 N/A 12
13 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 1:18.289 1:18.079 N/A 13
14 99 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:18.549 1:18.356 N/A 14
15 63 United Kingdom George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1:18.445 1:19.154 N/A 15
16 22 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Honda 1:18.556 N/A N/A 16
17 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:18.917 N/A N/A 17
18 47 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 1:19.117 N/A N/A 18
19 6 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1:19.219 N/A N/A 19
20 9 Russian Automobile Federation Nikita Mazepin[lower-alpha 3] Haas-Ferrari 1:19.807 N/A N/A 201
107% time: 1:23.268
Source:[17][18]
Notes
  • ^1 – Nikita Mazepin received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris in Q1. The penalty was not in force as he started the race from the last position.[19]

Race

The race started at 15:00 local time (UTC+02:00) and was held over 66 laps.[14]

Race classification
Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 66 1:33:07.680 1 25
2 33 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 66 +15.841 2 191
3 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 66 +26.610 3 15
4 16 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 66 +54.616 4 12
5 11 Mexico Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing-Honda 66 +1:03.671 8 10
6 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 66 +1:13.768 7 8
7 55 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 66 +1:14.670 6 6
8 4 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 65 +1 lap 9 4
9 31 France Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 65 +1 lap 5 2
10 10 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 65 +1 lap 12 1
11 18 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 65 +1 lap 11
12 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 65 +1 lap 17
13 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 65 +1 lap 13
14 63 United Kingdom George Russell Williams-Mercedes 65 +1 lap 15
15 99 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 65 +1 lap 14
16 6 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 65 +1 lap 19
17 14 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault 65 +1 lap 10
18 47 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 64 +2 laps 18
19 9 Russian Automobile Federation Nikita Mazepin[lower-alpha 3] Haas-Ferrari 64 +2 laps 20
Ret 22 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Honda 6 Electrics 16
Fastest lap: Netherlands Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing-Honda) – 1:18.149 (lap 62)
Source:[18][20][21]
Notes
  • ^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

Notes
  1. At the time of the event Formula One planned to hold twenty-three Grands Prix.[1]
  2. The Grand Prix was held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. Because of a change to the attendance protocol in Barcelona, the event received approval for a crowd of 1,000.[2] Those in audience at the race were members of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya that needed to apply for attendance.[3]
  3. Nikita Mazepin is Russian, but he competed as a neutral competitor using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to the state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.[16]

References
  1. Smith, Luke (28 August 2021). "Formula 1 reveals updated 2021 calendar, drops to 22 races". Autosport. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  2. "Barcelona gets approval for 1,000 fans on race day". Motorsport Week. 3 May 2021. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  3. "Fans given go-ahead to attend Spanish GP". planetf1.com. 3 May 2021. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  4. "Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya complete remodelling of Turn 10". formula1.com. 1 February 2021. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  5. "2021 Spanish Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 6 May 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  6. Alex Kalinauckas (4 May 2021). "Kubica gets Barcelona FP1 outing with Alfa Romeo". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  7. "Kubica, Nissany to get FP1 runs in Spain". planetf1.com. 4 May 2021. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  8. Jonathan Noble (19 February 2021). "Pirelli reveals tyre compound choices for F1 2021". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  9. "Portugal 2021 - Championship". www.statsf1.com. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  10. Benson, Andrew (7 May 2021). "Bottas tops first practice in Spain". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  11. Cary, Tom; Slater, Luke (7 May 2021). "Lewis Hamilton on top after Spanish GP practice as Red Bull talent grab rocks Mercedes". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  12. "2021 Spanish Grand Prix Information". Formula 1. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  13. Henry, Matthew (8 May 2021). "2021 Spanish GP FP3 and Qualifying, as it happened". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  14. "Spain timetable". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  15. "Formula 1's Spanish Grand Prix qualifying: Lewis Hamilton on pole and full starting grid". Marca. 8 May 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  16. Luke Smith (5 February 2021). "Mazepin set to race under neutral flag after CAS ruling extends to F1". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  17. "Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 8 May 2021. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  18. "Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021 – Starting Grid". Formula1.com. 8 May 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  19. "Mazepin penalised by stewards for blocking Norris in qualifying". Formula1.com. 8 May 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  20. "Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021 – Race Result". Formula1.com. 9 May 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  21. "Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de España 2021 – Fastest Laps". Formula1.com. 9 May 2021. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  22. "Spain 2021 - Championship". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
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