Lewis Hamilton made amends for his below-par weekend in Sochi by storming to victory in a classic wheel-to-wheel tussle at the Spanish Grand Prix. The Brit's 55th career victory came in another engrossing battle with chief 2017 rival Sebastian Vettel as the pair dominated the first traditional European race of the season.
Daniel Ricciardo finished on the podium but over 75 seconds behind the winner. Here is a round-up of the weekend's events in Spain.
Mercedes win the strategy tussle
The Spanish Grand Prix is the weekend where teams make their first major upgrades to their cars for the season and evidence this weekend shows that although Mercedes GP has made a major stride forward, Ferrari has almost matched them.
Only a lock-up at the tight final chicane cost Vettel pole position on Saturday as Hamilton took the top spot for the third time this season by a narrowest of margins. However, he lost the lead off the line to Vettel and it looked like the 2011 winner at this track had the edge in the opening exchanges.
Mercedes though, who got their strategy calls wrong in Bahrain and Australia, were spot-on in Barcelona. They triggered Ferrari into stopping earlier than expected on lap 14 by using team radio to suggest an aggressive strategy for Hamilton. Instead, they went longer into the stint to give their triple world champion more of a chance in the latter stages. Help also came from teammate Valtteri Bottas, who held up Vettel at a time where Hamilton had to bed the slower but more durable medium compound tyre into the circuit.
Then, timing Lewis' second pitstop just as a Virtual Safety Car ended to clear away Stoffel Vandoorne's broken McLaren wiped out an eight-second difference.
When Vettel rejoined, the pair were side-by-side into the first corner and brushed wheels in a fierce, but fair battle. Four laps later, Hamilton made his decisive move, getting into the tow and using DRS to breeze past the German.
This was a victory that Hamilton deserves great credit for but Formula One is a team game and Mercedes' tactics in the race were absolutely perfect.
Is the season over for Red Bull?
Red Bull Racing had pinned their hopes on this weekend to revive their flagging season with a major aerodynamic upgrade to their chassis. By Friday afternoon, it was clear that they were still way off the pace of the top two teams.
Max Verstappen did close the gap between himself, Kimi Raikkonen and Bottas in qualifying but his race ended at the first corner. Contact between the two Finns ended with Raikkonen bouncing into Verstappen, wrecking both cars' front suspensions' and ending their races prematurely. A far cry from last season's historic win at the same circuit for the Dutchman. Ricciardo stayed out of trouble and cashed in on a technical failure for Bottas to take his first rostrum since Mexico last October. However, the gap was an alarming 75 seconds at the chequered flag after 66 laps of racing. Ricciardo's race was so lonely, he barely featured on the worldwide TV feed.
It is clear that Red Bull simply don't have the speed and the gap seems to have enlarged between themselves and the duelling Mercedes/Ferrari.
Monaco, Hungary and Singapore aside, their best hope now is to focus on next season because this is not a championship contending car.
Wonderful Wehrlein
Young Mercedes GP protege Pascal Wehrlein was overlooked for the works' seat in the winter when Nico Rosberg retired from the sport. He ended up in a vacant Sauber drive instead. He has had a very tricky period but has come out of it a stronger driver.
Wehrlein got injured at the Race of Champions' event in Miami in January after an unfortunate collision with Felipe Massa. He missed pre-season testing due to a back injury and pulled out of the first two events of the season, receiving quite a bit of criticism. The German has put this behind him and impressed straight away.
He just missed out on points in Bahrain on his comeback drive and finished eighth in Barcelona for Sauber's first points of the season. It is the best result for the Swiss team since the 2015 Russian Grand Prix.
It was a wonderful performance and leaves McLaren as the only team without a point after five events.
Good luck Fernando
Fernando Alonso is heading Stateside for his Indy 500 experience. His decision to skip the Monaco Grand Prix to take part in America's jewel in the crown on the same weekend has attracted plenty of attention. I wish him well and hope he causes an upset at the famous Brickyard. Alonso reached the chequered flag for the first time in the season in Spain, finishing 12th after qualifying a stunning seventh. He will hope for a more competitive McLaren when he returns in Canada.
Next stop is Monte Carlo and it is anyone's guess to see who will hold the upper hand around the famous Principality streets.
