Cold in Montmeló: the Mercedes snatch the podium from Sainz and Alonso finishes seventh
From delirium he went to disappointment. The Spanish fans had been waiting for a World Cup like this for a decade, with Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz as contenders for the podium, and the carnival ended just when he passed home. It was a bad time, there will be others. There were hundreds of fans who showed up at the Montmeló circuit many hours before the start of the race and who left sad when Alonso crossed the finish line.
The final overtakes of the Aston Martin leader to finish seventh were some consolation, yes, a rare consolation. Alonso against Esteban Ocon (an Alpine), against Yuki Tsunoda (an Alpha Tauri) and against Guanyu Zhou (an Alfa Romeo) were scenes expected in preseason, but not now, already in June, after getting on the podium in five of the six first tests. The concern, in fact, is that the new reality is this.
Because Alonso was not seventh due to some fault -beyond what happened in qualifying with the flat bottom-, because of the rain or an accident, he was seventh because he could not finish later. For the first time this season, he did not belong to the elite of the championship, but to the middle class, to the peloton. His pace, especially on the soft tyres, was slow, much slower than the Red Bulls of course, than the Mercedes and Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, which finished fifth.
Sainz, without rhythm for more
The second disappointment on Sunday for the local public. From second place on the grid, Sainz coveted the podium, it was his goal, his only goal, and he finished fifth amid frustration. Max Verstappen, winner, is in another galaxy, flying towards his third consecutive World Cup, and his partner, Checo Pérez, finally fourth, was also counted as a comeback threat.
Carlos Sainz, during the race in Montmeló. AP
But nobody expected that the two Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, would improve so much compared to the last races and get on the podium together. The two, in fact, overtook Sainz on the track without him being able to respond, fighting with the rebound in his Ferrari as he did last season. On a circuit where the single-seater puts the drivers in place, the best for testing improvements, their double is intimidating going forward.