Max Verstappen shocked everyone when he finished first in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, and he will be keen on building off of that as we head on over to Barcelona.
Motor sports fans will have the Spanish Grand Prix on their calendars this weekend. It will be held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalonia – a track that has been witness to so many iconic racers.
There are storylines to watch out for ahead of this upcoming event especially for certain teams.
Mercedes, who continue to be the outright leaders in the constructors standings, have some alarming concerns that dates back to the British Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Racing Point are in hot water as of the moment.
On the other hand, Verstappen and his Red Bull team have all the momentum for this upcoming weekend, but will that momentum lead them to more wins this season?
SBOBET offers you the latest Spanish Grand Prix 2020 updates.
Mercedes hounded by tire and temperature issues
When the 2020 season restarted, the Silver Arrows picked up where they left off with four straight wins from Austria to Silverstone.
But the win at the British Grand Prix didn’t come easy especially when Lewis Hamilton had to take a major risk late in the race.
With his car, among others, experiencing tire failures, the British driver channeled his inner Lightning McQueen and proceeded to finish the final lap given that he’s had the lead over the others.
This problem was fully exposed during the recent 70th Anniversary Grand Prix as the softer tires gave out, and that essentially gifted Max Verstappen the much-needed win.
Now as we head on over to Catalonia, Mercedes would have to figure out a workaround for this issue especially with the increasing temperature over there.
Weather forecasts indicate that we will have a temperature around mid-30 degrees Celsius throughout the weekend, so perhaps mixing between soft and hard tires will do the trick.
Racing Point facing numerous problems
The British racing outfit is in hot water especially with the back and forth going on between them and Renault.
The latter filed a protest earlier, pointing out that Racing Point have breached regulations when they used a Mercedes design for their rear brake ducts this season.
The protest by Renault has been upheld by the FIA, which led to Racing Point receiving a deduction of 15 championship points and a stiff fine for their actions. However, the additional provision that comes with the decision by the committee has irked their rival constructors.
Racing Point was allowed to continue to use the said rear brake ducts for the rest of the season, so it’s natural that the other teams felt that the FIA was too lenient.
Team owner Lawrence Stroll minced no words when asked about the issue, saying that he has never cheated “at anything” in his life and he is expected to continue to appeal to the FIA.
Red Bull banking on Max Verstappen’s success
Max Verstappen admitted that his recent win caught him by surprise, but he will take those wins any day and he will hope to continue the trend come this weekend.
“[Mercedes] got massive tire issues, so then from our side, we didn’t really have that. That’s why I think we were so competitive,” said Verstappen when asked about the British Grand Prix.
The victory in Silverstone catapulted the the Dutch international to second in the drivers’ standings. However, he might not be able to hold on for that position for too long if he won’t perform well this weekend.
Moreover, Verstappen hopes that luck will be on his side. But it looks like that his fortunes will depend on whether Mercedes will struggle with tire issues again.
History
The first-ever Spanish Grand Prix happened in 1913 originally at Guadarrama. But the event has been held in other places such as in Lasarte, Pedralbes, Jarama, and Jerez.
Ferrari icon Michael Schumacher holds the record for most wins in the Spanish Grand Prix. He has made it his personal playground to which he has emerged victorious six times.
Lewis Hamilton is closing in on Schumacher’s record. The British driver has won it four times so far which includes a three-peat from 2017 to 2019.
What are the odds?
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc own some of the highest Spanish Grand Prix 2020 odds to win.
They are priced at 1.43 and 1.28 respectively especially when being compared head-to-head with their teammates. Max Verstappen, on the other hand, is not far behind as he’s priced at 1.62.
There are certain factors that need to be considered here. But overall, it all boils down to the car performance between Mercedes and Red Bull.
But personally, I’m picking for the Silver Arrows to win given how Lewis Hamilton has performed in this specific circuit in recent years.
As always, the other podium spots will be fought over by Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, and Charles Leclerc.
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