2018 Spanish GP : Drivers of the Day

The Spanish Grand Prix was a hot race, mostly in temperature with six engines not being able to withstand the heat of the Spanish sunshine, but also with two drivers making the podium despite starting in the teens. Of the 22 drivers, who was awesome at Aragon?

5. Valtteri Bottas

It has been an incredibly barren spell for Bottas of late with only six finishes in the last 21 races. His season got off to a torrid start with no finishes in the first three races, but at Aragon, he bounced back with his car being fairly well-suited to the circuit. It’s also a circuit he seems to go well at having been on pole position and on the podium here last season, and in this race, he was able to use his circuit knowledge and good top speed to fend off Kevin Magnussen for 6th come the chequered flag for GRM’s first points of the season.

4. Mattia Alfonsi

Having failed to qualify at his first home race of the season, Alfonsi was keen to bounce back from the ignominy. Throughout the meeting, he steadily built up his speed and confidence from 20th overall in first practice to 8th in Sunday warm-up. For once, the Hart engine was very reliable in the race and he used this to his advantage as he worked his way up the order and during the second round of pitstops, led the race for a lap. He benefitted from GRM’s lack of team tactics to overtake Bottas for an eventual 5th place, his best career result so far.

3. Alessandro Farina

Yet another appearance in the DOTD feature for Farina thanks to yet another win in the highly effective BD-17B chassis run by Gojira AutoSport. As was the case with his other two wins, this one was mostly on merit with the possible exception of benefitting from Charles Leclerc’s exploded engine, but he had to work for this win as he faced threats from the one-stopping Nolan Bryant, Vaino Kimminen, and teammate James Clark who briefly got ahead after Farina was delayed by Alfonsi before Farina quickly restored the status quo to extend his already healthy championship lead.

2. Vaino Kimminen

Things weren’t looking good for Kimminen after qualifying down in 17th mostly from Tornado’s preference on running race set-ups for their two drivers, so once again Kimminen was forced to rely on his trademark patience to make his way up the order. After overtaking Catharina Caracciola shortly after his first pitstop, Kimminen used clear air to his advantage and closed the gap to Sebastian Vettel before overtaking him at the start of the final stint. He then overtook the one-stopping Bryant for an eventual 3rd and less than five seconds behind the race winner.

1. James Clark

After three somewhat frustrating races where he had been outclassed by his Italian teammate, James Clark needed a confidence-boosting performance and after qualifying, it didn’t look all that likely as he was starting way down in 15th. He made an excellent start to gain four places off the line before overtaking both GRM drivers during the first lap. By the time of the first round of pitstops, Clark was up to 6th, and he didn’t stop there, overtaking Vettel, overcutting Caracciola, and then catching Fernando Alonso napping to move up to a genuine 2nd. Eager for more, he had a go at his own teammate for the lead, briefly moving ahead before Farina stamped his authority to regain track position. Nevertheless, Clark came home 2nd as part of a Gojira 1-2, but more importantly, his first podium finish.