Barcelona, Spain - Mercedes and Ferrari will renew their Formula One
rivalry on familiar terrain on Sunday at the Spanish Grand Prix but
it is far too early in the season to make title predictions.
It is said that cars which are fast on the 4.655-kilometre Circuit de
Catalunya are competitive everywhere else as well - but the Barcelona race has only been won by the eventual world
champion three times in the past decade: Jenson Button in 2009,
Sebastian Vettel in 2011 and Lewis Hamilton in 2014.
All the teams know the track well as it is also used for pre-season
testing. There Ferrari impressed and the first four races confirmed that it has caught up with Mercedes, with Vettel winning twice for the
Scuderia, and Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas once each for the
champion.
Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne recently told analysts: "Ferrari is competitive again and is feared by our rivals."
Ferrari is just one point behind Mercedes in the Constructors' list
while Vettel leads the Drivers' championship with 86 points from
Hamilton (73), Bottas (63) and Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari
(49).
But the four-times world champion is taking nothing for granted as "we
more or less got the maximum" out of the first races.
"Barcelona is another race, and there are many races this year," he
said. "We had a very good start. We are here to win, to do our best,
but we can still learn and improve."
Vettel fell just short of hunting down Bottas two weeks ago in Russia
as the Finn held on for his first career win, while Hamilton had to
settle for fourth with pace problems and will now hope to bounce back in
Spain.
'Totally different situation'
Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff said the team was doing
everything to make the car perform well again, and also continued to
adapt to no longer being the unchallenged number one in the sport.
"I have the feeling that we are moving in the right direction but we
need 24/7 shifts to achieve our ultimate targets," he said. "This inter-team battle is a totally different situation than what we
have seen over the last three years.
You simply need to adapt to the
challenge and that's what we are doing, playing the hunter as well as
being the hunted. This fight will continue on to the end of the season and we will be
prepared for that battle."
Wolff added he expects a three-team battle because "Red Bull will
also eventually join the club" of title contenders.
Fond memories
Red Bull in general and driver Max Verstappen have fond
memories of Barcelona as the Dutch teenager scored his first and so
far only career win there in 2016 - in his first race for them
after joining from sister team Toro Rosso.
"Last year was such a special race to me and in the end we managed to
pull it off," Verstappen said. "It was an incredible feeling once I passed the finish line,
especially in your first race with a new team. Going back to Spain
will always mean a lot to me."
Like the other teams, Red Bull will have made updates to the car and
Verstappen said he hopes it will draw them closer to the leaders.
"We have to wait and see what the updates will bring. I hope we can
be a bit closer to the top teams or that we can at least follow them.
That would already be a good step forward," he said.