F1: Verstappen wins as Ferrari falter – Gulf Digital News

F1: Verstappen wins as Ferrari falter – Gulf Digital News

The Spanish Grand Prix was always going to have the potential for some surprises, being the point in the season where pretty much every team had brought significant packages of car upgrades.

With the 2022 season bringing in an entirely new car, the potential for upgrades to make a meaningful difference to lap times is very significant.

This meant that there was a huge amount to look out for throughout the weekend. Could Mercedes fix its porpoising issue and make progress up the field? Would Ferrari be able to close the performance gap to Red Bull? And which of the midfield could branch out in what has become a very hotly-contested area.

The other factor to consider was the weather. Whilst 35 degrees might not sound much to us in Bahrain as we enter into our summer months, it’s a fair bit higher than what you would expect in Barcelona for late May.

That all means higher tyre degradation, making pitstop strategy that much more important, with even the possibility of a three stop race. It also played into Red Bull’s hands as they appear to be notably better at managing their tyres this season.

Qualifying gave some indication from Mercedes that real progress had