The 2010 Spanish Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Telefónica 2010) was the fifth round of the
2010 Formula One season
The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 64th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a 1–2 finish in Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Dri ...
. It was held on 9 May 2010 at the
Circuit de Catalunya
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stan ...
. It was the first European race of the
2010 season, and was ultimately won by
Red Bull's
Mark Webber after the Australian qualified on pole and led every lap of the race.
Report
Background
![Felipe Massa 2010 Spain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Felipe_Massa_2010_Spain.jpg)
The lead-up to the first practice session saw the media focus on several major upgrades various teams had introduced in time for the start of the European season.
Mercedes abandoned the use of an airbox mounted atop the engine cowling, in favour of a rigid vertical rollbar and two pronounced air intakes directly behind the driver's cockpit.
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
's solution to their problem of having a too-small fuel tank was to bring a longer chassis to accommodate a larger fuel tank and a brand-new fuel feed system that would allow them to run as light as possible during qualifying. The
VR-01 was also given a "shark fin" engine cowling. However, owing to the volcanic eruptions in Iceland that had disrupted air travel across Europe at the time of the
previous race, only one chassis was able to make it to Barcelona, to be used by
Timo Glock. Following several dramatic engine problems that had affected both them and their customer teams,
Ferrari were given permission by the FIA to modify their engines. In the wake of controversy that arose from accusations that their generic
Marlboro
Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Mar ...
"barcode" decal contained subliminal advertising, Ferrari removed all traces of it from their car for the weekend. Elsewhere,
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...
signed former
Jaguar driver
Christian Klien
Christian Klien (born 7 February 1983) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver. In total he has scored 14 points in Formula One. Klien currently competes full-time in the GT World Challenge Europe for JP Motorsport.
Racing career
Bor ...
as a test driver, running him in the place of
Karun Chandhok
Karun Chandhok (born 19 January 1984) is an Indian racing driver and television presenter who last competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed for Hispania Racing in Formula One in . Before this, he drove in t ...
for the first practice session. Klien's
FIA Super Licence
The FIA Super Licence is a driver's qualification allowing the holder to compete in the Formula One World Championship.
Requirements Super Licence
To qualify for an FIA Racing Super Licence an applicant must meet the requirements of the FIA's Int ...
– the licence that allows a driver to race in Formula One – was reported to have expired as he had not raced in over three years (his last appearance being at the
2006 Italian Grand Prix), which would have prevented him from leaving pit lane and taking to the circuit. Klien took part in the session, with reports claiming that his racing licence had been renewed just ten minutes before the session began.
Practice and qualifying
![Michael Schumacher 2010 Spain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Michael_Schumacher_2010_Spain.jpg)
The first practice session was incident-free, save for
Sauber
Sauber Motorsport AG is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in . After operating it un ...
's
Pedro de la Rosa
Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (; born 24 February 1971) is a Spanish former Formula One driver who has participated in 107 Grands Prix for the Arrows, Jaguar, McLaren, Sauber and HRT teams. He made his Formula One debut on 7 March 1999, becoming ...
falling victim to a gearbox failure.
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...
and
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super G ...
topped the timing sheets for
McLaren, with
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...
experiencing a resurgence to finish third after a poor opening to his 2010 campaign. The German later admitted that the team's updates to the
W01 had inspired more confidence in him. Local favourite
Fernando Alonso was eighth for Ferrari, sandwiched between the
Renaults of
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing and rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test d ...
and
Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov ( rus, Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Петро́в, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈtrof; born 8 September 1984) is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Renault F1 ...
.
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and ...
was once again the fastest of the new teams, his
Lotus T127 finishing four seconds slower than Hamilton and less than two behind the
Williams of
Nico Hülkenberg
Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German professional racing driver who is scheduled to make a full-time racing return to Formula 1 with Haas F1 Team in 2023, after serving as a reserve driver for Aston Martin F1 Team for the ye ...
.
Hülkenberg would later provide drama in the second session, when an off-track excursion at the exit of Campsa resulted in an impact with the wall that tore the front wing off.
Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero (; born 23 March 1990), also known as Jaume Alguersuari (), and Squire is a Spanish DJ and retired racing driver best known for competing in Formula One between and , and for being the 2008 British Formula 3 ...
stopped on the circuit with just a few minutes remaining in the session, with the recovery truck hitting a bridge as it returned the stricken car to the pits. The session was topped by
Sebastian Vettel, followed closely by team mate
Mark Webber and Schumacher once again setting the third-fastest time. Alonso improved to fourth, while the McLarens of Hamilton and Button slipped backwards; Hamilton finishing fifth and Button ninth.
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian racing driver. He regularly competed in Formula One from 1997 to 2011, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault, Toyota, Lotus Racing and Team Lotus. His best result in the World Drivers' Cham ...
supplanted team mate Kovalainen as the fastest of the new teams.
The third session was marked by separate incidents by Petrov and
Kamui Kobayashi
is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and ...
, both of whom found a puddle of standing water in the middle of the Repsol corner just minutes apart. Kobayashi survived unscathed, but Petrov spun and crashed. The damage to his
R30 was extensive enough to warrant the team changing his gearbox, earning himself a five-place grid penalty. Similar penalties were applied to both
Virgin Racing
Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in with a British licence and in with a Russian ...
cars after the team failed to notify the FIA of changes to their gear ratios before the deadline, and to Hispania's
Karun Chandhok
Karun Chandhok (born 19 January 1984) is an Indian racing driver and television presenter who last competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed for Hispania Racing in Formula One in . Before this, he drove in t ...
, who replaced his gearbox.
Qualifying was a race to see who would place third on the grid as the Red Bulls of Webber and Vettel setting the fastest times in each of the three session. Webber went on to take pole position. Q1 saw the elimination of the six newcomers – a running theme throughout the season – as well as the Williams of
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (, ; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between and . He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 T ...
. Barrichello claimed he had been unable to understand his engineer while out on the circuit. The Circuit de Catalunya has a history of radio-related problems; during practice sessions for the
2009 race, Mark Webber reported being able to hear Spanish truck drivers talking to one another over CB radios.
Lotus was once again the fastest of the newcomers, with Trulli and Kovalainen qualifying nineteenth and twentieth respectively, ahead of the two Virgins and the two Hispanias.
The second session was similarly themed, as Sutil, de la Rosa, Hülkenberg, Petrov, Buemi, Alguersuari and Liuzzi all fell away. Just four tenths of a second separated all but Aluguersuari and Liuzzi from making it into Q3. Elsewhere,
Mercedes elected not to send Michael Schumacher out to join everyone else late in the session as they were confident his time would be enough to see him through to the final session.
Ferrari committed to a similar course of action in 2009, with the end result being that
Kimi Räikkönen was eliminated early on.
The final ten-minute period was once again dominated by Red Bull, with Webber to the fore. Hamilton edged out local hero Alonso for third on the grid, while Button narrowly missed out on putting his
MP4-25 alongside his team-mate. Schumacher slotted into sixth place, followed by Kubica,
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German-Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016, winning the World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The only child of Fi ...
,
Felipe Massa and Kobayashi. Ferrari were later fined US$20,000 (in keeping with the sport's strict financial penalty rule) for an unsafe release that saw Alonso deployed directly into the path of Rosberg; the young German was forced to swerve in the direction of the pit wall – and came close to contact with it – in order to avoid a collision.
Race
![Sebastian Vettel 2010 Spain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Sebastian_Vettel_2010_Spain.jpg)
The front-row starting
Red Bulls of
Mark Webber and
Sebastian Vettel started well off the line, and even though they were challenged by Lewis Hamilton and local hero Fernando Alonso on the long dragrace to the first corner, they maintained their positions with polesitter Webber leading. Reigning world champion
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super G ...
and seven-time world champion
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...
kept fifth and sixth, but there was light contact between
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing and rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test d ...
and
Kamui Kobayashi
is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and ...
which sent both falling down the order.
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German-Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016, winning the World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The only child of Fi ...
in the second Mercedes was forced to take evasive action and ran onto the grass. Kobayashi's BMW Sauber team-mate
Pedro de la Rosa
Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (; born 24 February 1971) is a Spanish former Formula One driver who has participated in 107 Grands Prix for the Arrows, Jaguar, McLaren, Sauber and HRT teams. He made his Formula One debut on 7 March 1999, becoming ...
had a similar altercation with
Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Buemi (born 31 October 1988) is a Swiss professional racing driver, who competes in the FIA Formula E Championship for Envision Racing. He competed for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One from 2009 to 2011. After leaving Formula ...
that resulted in a puncture for the Spaniard, while Buemi was demoted to last on the road. The incident would later morph into a greater problem for de la Rosa, forcing him to retire with accident damage. The other first-lap incident saw an early exit for
Bruno Senna
Bruno Senna Lalli (, born 15 October 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He is the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, three-time Formula One world champion. He is also the first man to win a race in every WEC class, and was the 2017 W ...
, his
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...
spearing into the barriers at the same corner as the Buemi-de la Rosa incident.
Lotus's
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and ...
was the only driver who failed to start the race when his gearbox software attempted to select two gears at the same time.
The Red Bulls, especially Webber, slowly started pulling away from Hamilton, but the rate at which he pulled away was not as quick as one would have expected. The gap to Hamilton increased by two or three tenths of a second per lap, not by a full second as suggested in practice and qualifying. The first and only round of pit stops came shortly after lap fifteen, and a mistake by Red Bull cost Vettel four seconds, and a place to Hamilton. McLaren also did not have a perfect pitstop with Button, the result being that he came out behind Schumacher at the end of turn 1. Button was later critical of the German's swipe across the circuit to claim the position. He spent the rest of the race looking at the Mercedes' rear wing.
The sole surviving
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...
of
Karun Chandhok
Karun Chandhok (born 19 January 1984) is an Indian racing driver and television presenter who last competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed for Hispania Racing in Formula One in . Before this, he drove in t ...
was caught up in two separate incidents in the final sector of the circuit. The first saw contact between his car and Felipe Massa's Ferrari as the latter attempted to lap him as they negotiated the corner before the final chicane; Massa, who had been lacking speed all weekend, experienced a better-handling car with a damaged front wing. A pitstop would have meant dropping down at least two or three places for Massa and since the handling of the car wasn't hampered much due to the damage, the team took the decision of not bringing Massa in for a front wing change. The second of Chandhok's incidents saw
Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero (; born 23 March 1990), also known as Jaume Alguersuari (), and Squire is a Spanish DJ and retired racing driver best known for competing in Formula One between and , and for being the 2008 British Formula 3 ...
chop across his front end at the same corner, knocking his front wing off. Chandhok was forced to pit, but retired a lap later with suspension damage caused by the collision; Alguersuari was given a drive through penalty for his efforts. His team-mate Buemi had been penalised earlier after rejoining the track in unsafe manner, just ahead of
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian racing driver. He regularly competed in Formula One from 1997 to 2011, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault, Toyota, Lotus Racing and Team Lotus. His best result in the World Drivers' Cham ...
.
Williams gambled on a two-stop strategy for
Nico Hülkenberg
Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German professional racing driver who is scheduled to make a full-time racing return to Formula 1 with Haas F1 Team in 2023, after serving as a reserve driver for Aston Martin F1 Team for the ye ...
, a mistake that shunted the German driver down the order where he was caught up in a duel with a struggling Rosberg. Sébastien Buemi was the only other retirement, stopping on lap forty-four with hydraulics problems.
![Fernando Alonso 2010 Spain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Fernando_Alonso_2010_Spain.jpg)
The race order settled down with Webber leading from Hamilton and Vettel. Alonso was fourth, ahead of the Schumacher-Button scrap which Massa also joined, with Sutil, Kubica and the recovering
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (, ; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between and . He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 T ...
in the Williams completing the top ten. On lap fifty-four, Vettel went wide at turn six, with a suspected front brake failure and had a trip across the gravel. This damaged his tyres, and he came in for inspection and also for a new set of tyres, which dropped him behind Alonso. It was soon evident that he was struggling with brake issues, and thus Vettel had to slow down for the rest of the race to nurse his brakes and finish the race. On lap sixty-five – the penultimate lap of the race – Hamilton lost second place when he suffered a left-front tyre puncture followed shortly by a blowout at turn three, which punted him into the wall, although far less violently than when a similar accident claimed then McLaren teammate
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and ...
at the
2008 race. He was classified as finishing fourteenth as he had completed 90% of the winner's race distance, his accident gifting second place to Alonso and allowing the fading Vettel back onto the podium for third. Vitantonio Liuzzi suffered a similar fate to Hamilton when his engine gave up on the same lap, the Italian stopping on the circuit.
![Mark Webber 2010 Spain 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Mark_Webber_2010_Spain_2.jpg)
Mark Webber crossed the finish line first, becoming the tenth driver in ten Spanish Grands Prix to win from pole. Alonso finished second, with Vettel third and the unresolved Schumacher-Button scrap seeing the former World Champion home before the defending champion. Massa finished sixth, followed by Sutil, Kubica, and Barrichello and Alguersuari, who were a lap down.
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian racing driver. He regularly competed in Formula One from 1997 to 2011, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault, Toyota, Lotus Racing and Team Lotus. His best result in the World Drivers' Cham ...
's Lotus was the first of the new teams to finish the race, whilst Virgin Racing notched up their first double-finish of the season, despite
Timo Glock and
Lucas di Grassi driving different versions of the
VR-01. The final result meant that Button kept his championship lead going into
the next round by just three points, while the same amount separated
McLaren from
Ferrari in the constructors' standings, with
Red Bull only a further three points behind.
Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media at a later press conference. Red Bull team mechanic Kenny Handkammer appeared on the podium to receive the winning manufacturer's award.
Classification
Qualifying
Notes:
:1. –
Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov ( rus, Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Петро́в, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈtrof; born 8 September 1984) is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Renault F1 ...
was given a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change after the Russian crashed during free practice and damaged the rear end of his car.
:2. – the
Virgins of
Timo Glock and
Lucas di Grassi were both given five-place penalties after the team failed to notify the FIA of changes to their gearbox ratios before the deadline for doing so.
:3. –
Hispania's Karun Chandhok
Karun Chandhok (born 19 January 1984) is an Indian racing driver and television presenter who last competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed for Hispania Racing in Formula One in . Before this, he drove in t ...
was also issued a five-place penalty for a similar gearbox-related infringement.
Race
Notes:
:1. – both Lewis Hamilton and Vitantonio Liuzzi were classified as they had completed 90% of the winner's race distance.
:2. – Lewis Hamilton's accident was caused by a damaged wheel rim that punctured his tyre.
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings
*
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also
*
2010 Catalunya GP2 Series round
*
2010 Catalunya GP3 Series round
References
External links
{{F1GP 10-19
Spanish Grand Prix
The Spanish Grand Prix ( es, Gran Premio de España, ca, Gran Premi d'Espanya) is a Formula One motor racing event currently held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The race is one of the oldest in the world still contested, celebrating it ...
Spanish Grand Prix
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
May 2010 sports events in Europe