Date 11 May 2014 | Course length 4.655 km (2.892 mi) | |
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Official name Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Pirelli 2014 Location Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Montmeló, Spain Course Permanent racing facility Distance 66 laps, 307.024 km (190.826 mi) | ||
The 2014 Spanish Grand Prix, formally known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Pirelli 2014, was a Formula One motor race that was held on 11 May 2014 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. The race was the fifth round of the 2014 season, and marked the forty-fourth running of the Spanish Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship, and the twenty-fourth running at Catalunya.
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The Mercedes team continued to dominate the 2014 Formula One season, Lewis Hamilton winning the race after holding off a late challenge from his team mate Nico Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo secured his first Formula One podium by finishing third; he had previously been disqualified after finishing second in the 2014 Australian Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel's fastest lap on lap 55, in his Red Bull RB10, marked the first time in the 2014 season that a car aside from a Mercedes accomplished the feat.
Background
The Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams, each of two drivers. The teams, also known as constructors, were Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, Lotus, McLaren, Force India, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Williams, Marussia and Caterham. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought four different tyre compounds for the race; two dry compounds, the hard "primes" and the medium "options" and two wet-weather compounds, the intermediate and full wet. The drag reduction system (DRS) had two activation zones for the race; one was on the start/finish straight from the final to first corners, and the second on the straight between turns 9 and 10.
Going into the race, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg led the Drivers' Championship with 79 points, ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton with 75 points and Fernando Alonso on 41. Nico Hülkenberg was fourth with 36 while Sebastian Vettel was fifth with 33 points. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes were leading with 154 points and Red Bull were second with 57 points. Force India with 54 points and Ferrari with 52 points contended for third place, with McLaren fifth on 43 points. Mercedes had so far dominated the championship, winning the season's first four races; Rosberg won the opening race in Australia, while Hamilton won three successive races in Malaysia, Bahrain and China. Rosberg (with three) and Kevin Magnussen had each gained second-place finishes, while Jenson Button, Vettel, Sergio Pérez and Alonso had all achieved third place podium finishes.
Several teams made technical changes to their cars for the Grand Prix. Red Bull introduced a duct near their car's rear tyres to allow the airflow redirected. Ferrari reverted to using a single pillar rear wing support, aimed at increasing the amount of downforce, and therefore grip, produced by the bodywork. Sauber had introduced a revised version of its C33 chassis. The revised aerodynamic package included a modified front wing, new side-pod fins and deflectors which reduced the weight of the car.
Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Friday, and a third on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted 90 minutes. The third session was held on Saturday morning and lasted an hour. The first practice session took place in dry conditions. The ambient and track temperature were 19 °C (66 °F). Hamilton set the session's fastest time with a lap of 1:27.023, eight-tenths of a second ahead of Button. Daniel Ricciardo was the third-fastest driver. The two Ferrari drivers were fourth and sixth – Alonso ahead of Kimi Räikkönen – and were separated by Rosberg. Magnussen, Pastor Maldonado, Pérez and Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten. The car of Sauber reserve driver Giedo van der Garde suffered from a brake failure, and Adrian Sutil lost control of his Sauber at turn nine. Vettel's car was afflicted with an electrical problem; this restricted him to completing only four timed laps, and he was 20th overall.
The second practice session was held in similar conditions to the first; the difference was a higher peak air temperature of 23 °C (73 °F) and track temperature of 44 °C (111 °F). During the session, Hamilton set the fastest time of the day, a 1:25.524; Rosberg finished with the second fastest time. Ricciardo remained the third fastest driver, with Alonso and Räikkönen fourth and fifth fastest respectively. The two McLaren cars were running quicker—Button in sixth and Magnussen seventh—although Button struggled with the higher temperatures. Massa, Maldonado and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten. The session was disrupted by an incident as Max Chilton spun off in the gravel at turn four causing a yellow flag and Romain Grosjean's Lotus car was affected by a braking problem, limiting his running. Vettel's car was still suffering the same electrical problem and his team discovered the wiring loom was damaged, and he was forced to miss the second practice session.
Saturday's weather was again dry for the third and final practice session, with an ambient temperature of 22 °C (72 °F) and a track temperature of 23 °C (73 °F). Rosberg set the quickest time of the session, a 1:25.887, quicker than his best on Friday. Hamilton was second fastest, less than nine-tenths of a second slower. Alonso was third fastest, despite struggling with grip in his rear tyres. Vettel had a trouble-free session and set the tenth-fastest time, three positions behind team-mate Ricciardo. A spin by Chilton in the final ten minutes brought out a yellow flag, forcing several drivers to abandon their fast laps.
The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was split into three parts. The first part ran for 18 minutes and eliminated the cars from qualifying that finished the session 17th or lower. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver set a time within 107% of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. The second part of qualifying lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 16. The final part of qualifying determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided pole position. The session was held in dry weather slightly hotter than any of the three practice sessions; the ambient temperature was 26 °C (79 °F) and the track temperature 42 °C (108 °F).
Hamilton clinched his fifth pole position of the season, and his first at the circuit, with a time of 1:25.232. He was joined on the front row by Rosberg, who was less than two-tenths of a second behind.
Qualifying
Notes: