The Expectations II

Mercedes eyed Barcelona as the venue to establish some all-time records. Rosberg and Hamilton have combined for a record 25 1-2 finishes as teammates, one more than Ferrari’s Schumacher and Barrichello captured between 2000 and 2005. Mercedes no doubt had readied a marketing promotion; if either driver could win Barcelona, the team would also tie McLaren’s 1988 season’s all-time record for most consecutive F1 wins.

The key to success at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona is qualifying in the first two rows. In the years the circuit has been used for the Spanish Grand Prix, 23 out of the 25 race winners have been from the front row. Expect variability too as nine different drivers have won the last nine events. Since 2007, Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Pastor Maldonado, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have stood on the top podium.

Ominously, qualifying had shown Ferrari 0.4-seconds slower than their winter testing times; Mercedes had gone 1.4-sec faster. Both Red Bulls pushed the Ferraris out of the second and on to the third row of the grid.