As it happened: Spain 2016 - The race

• 12:30

  Hello all! Welcome to the Factbyte Factbox for the Spanish Grand Prix. It's back to Europe for F1, and there are motorhomes galore!

• 12:30

  Drivers know the Barcelona circuit well, teams have plenty of data, but that doesn't mean today is a foregone conclusion. We've seen some exciting races this year - particularly in terms of the first corner action - so anything could happen.

• 12:31

  We've got half an hour until the lights go out and the action begins, which means the pit lane has just opened to allow drivers to make their way to the grid.

• 12:31

  Circuit Data

  Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
  Local timezone	+02:00 GMT
  First race	1991
  Number of laps	66
  Circuit length	4.655km
  Race distance	307.107km
  Start offset	0.126km

• 12:32
  Hard

  Medium

  Soft

  The tyre options have varied for the first time this weekend, with the supersofts out the window and the hard compound getting an airing.

• 12:33

  Lewis Hamilton has pole position here in Spain, joined on the front row by Nico Rosberg. The defending champion knows he still has work to do and Rosberg is confident that Lewis' poor starts so far this season will work in his favour.

• 12:34

  Hamilton is, however, looking for his next win because it will be a special one - the 44th of his career, to match up nicely with his driver number 44.

• 12:34

  Red Bull deposed Ferrari as best of the rest on Saturday, with Max Verstappen putting on a storming show for his first qualifying with Red Bull. He ended up behind Ricciardo, but only just, the pair lining up on the second row of the grid.

• 12:34

  Starting Grid

  1	L Hamilton	Mercedes
  2	N Rosberg	Mercedes
  3	D Ricciardo	Red Bull
  4	M Verstappen	Red Bull
  5	K Räikkönen	Ferrari
  6	S Vettel	Ferrari
  7	V Bottas	Williams
  8	C Sainz	Toro Rosso
  9	S Pérez	Force India
  10	F Alonso	McLaren

• 12:35

  Practice starts for Ferrari and Red Bull at the pit exit, cars lining up one behind the other to get the opportunity.

• 12:36

  It's notable that Bottas is up in seventh place, as Felipe Massa had a disappointing qualifying on Saturday. He couldn't get out of Q1, ending up 18th on the grid and giving himself a lot of work to do to recover today.

• 12:38

  

• 12:40

  There's been lots of attention on the Red Bull switch over the last week or so. It already feels quite natural though - Max Verstappen chasing Daniel Ricciardo, and Daniil Kvyat settling back in to the team he left behind. Kvyat qualified 13th, whilst Sainz is up in 8th.

• 12:41

  Tweet from @ForceIndiaF1: Our two cars made their way out to the grid - fifth and sixth rows for our guys today...

• 12:41

  Tweet from @pirellisport: So we’re looking at two or three stops. Three stops theoretically quickest but most will do two stops. Undercut could be effective here #F1

• 12:43

  Very equal season battle so far at Ferrari, with Räikkönen ahead on the grid this weekend. Ferrari's boss is back in the garage so they'll all be on their best behaviour again.

  Race Battle

  Ferrari	Finished Ahead
  S Vettel	2
  K Räikkönen	2

• 12:45

  Max Verstappen: "I think it’s very positive for us, the long runs were good. Hopefully we can have a good start and there on have a good race. It is positive pressure, you always have pressure. That’s good, it keeps you motivated."

• 12:45

  Risk of rain for this session is 10%.

• 12:47

  Two Spanish drivers on the grid today, with Fernando Alonso just managing to get his Honda-powered car up into the top ten. Carlos Sainz also did a great job to start 8th.

• 12:48

  

  21°C
  Track	39°C
  Humidity	50%
  Wind speed	2.7mps

• 12:50

  Grid position can be crucial at this track, as all but two of the race winners have started on or alongside pole position. The only two drivers to achieve a victory from further back were Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, and neither were more than fifth on the grid.

• 12:50

  Tweet from @pirellisport: There have actually been nine different winners in the last nine races at the #SpanishGP. Will that pattern continue?

• 12:55

  'Bout time we added another name to this table, isn't it?

  2016 Race Wins

  Pos	Driver	Total
  1	N Rosberg	4

• 12:56

  Beautiful skies above the circuit, as the teams get ready with just five more minutes of preparation time left.

  

• 12:57

  No grid penalties today, so all the drivers line up where they qualified. Also, everyone is starting on the soft, yellow striped, tyres, except for Rio Haryanto right at the back of the field on the mediums.

• 13:00

  Formation lap gets underway with Lewis Hamilton leading the pack around the first corner and beyond.

• 13:03

  Hamilton slowly pulls to a stop at the front of the field, the rest of the drivers lining up behind him.

• 13:03

  Race started.

• 13:03 Lap 1

  Clean start for Hamilton but Rosberg pulls alongside him and goes round the outside of turn one to take the lead.

• 13:04 Lap 1

  Safety car!

• 13:05 Lap 1

  Hamilton tries to make a move back on Rosberg, he ran off track onto the grass and lost control, spun round and then crashed into Rosberg - both the Mercedes are off into the gravel and out of the race!!

• 13:05 Lap 1

  It was the exit of turn three, Hamilton had the better run but was squeezed by Rosberg onto the grass. Lewis lost control on the bumpy surface and slid into the side of his teammate. That's going to take some debriefing.

• 13:06 Lap 2

  Replays show as Hamilton was a passenger drifting into the gravel, he put both hands over his eyes in despair.

• 13:06 Lap 2

  Ricciardo has inherited the lead, with Verstappen tucked up behind him.

• 13:07 Lap 2

  Somewhere in the chaos, Sainz managed to get up to third, with Vettel and Räikkönen behind him.

• 13:08 Lap 2

  Räikkönen had a terrible start, allowing both Bottas and Sainz ahead of him off the line. He's recovered those places now.

• 13:09 Lap 3

  Also replays show that Vettel had managed to get ahead of Verstappen, but the young Red Bull driver regained the position with great skill.

• 13:09 Lap 4

  

• 13:10 Lap 4

  Incident involving Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will be investigated after the race.

• 13:11 Lap 4

  Track is clear.

• 13:11 Lap 5

  Ricciardo is clean away for the restart, gets a good lead on his teammate with a second gap after just a couple of corners.

• 13:12 Lap 5

  Battle for 3rd

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  3	SAI	-
  4	VET	+0.689
  5	RAI	+0.793

• 13:14 Lap 6

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	2	D Ricciardo	0
  2	2	M Verstappen	0
  3	5	C Sainz	0
  4	2	S Vettel	0
  5	0	K Räikkönen	0
  6	1	V Bottas	0
  7	2	S Pérez	0
  8	4	J Button	0
  9	1	F Alonso	0
  10	4	R Grosjean	0

• 13:14 Lap 6

  DRS has been enabled now, which might help those Ferraris who are trying to get past the Toro Rosso of Sainz.

• 13:14 Lap 7

  Sainz makes a move to defend on Vettel into the first corner, which allows the Ferrari to pull alongside, but he doesn't make it stick this time.

• 13:16 Lap 8

  Jenson Button had a great first couple of laps to find himself up four places and crucially in front of Fernando Alonso, despite starting behind him.

• 13:16 Lap 8

  Sebastian Vettel finally makes the move on Sainz and gets up into third place. Kimi Räikkönen moves in to try and follow.

• 13:17 Lap 8

  Tweet from @C4F1: Lee: "The cheer from Red Bull when they realised they were locking out the front two positions had to be heard to be believed!"

• 13:17 Lap 9

  Kvyat was instructed to give a position back to Nico Hülkenberg, as he'd gained that place under safety car conditions. "Come on guys, you can't be serious," Kvyat complained but he complies.

• 13:18 Lap 9

  Felipe Massa has taken his first stop of the day, that drops him to the rear of the field.

• 13:18 Lap 10

  Kimi attempted to close up the gap to Sainz with DRS but was too fast into the corner and cut the chicane. He had to let the Toro Rosso back past again.

• 13:19 Lap 10

  Finally, the Finn drags his Ferrari past Sainz, moving up to fourth place.

• 13:21 Lap 11

  Sainz has come into the pit lane, as has Button, Hülkenberg and Magnussen. Medium compounds going on these cars now, ditching the softs as soon as possible.

• 13:21 Lap 12

  Romain Grosjean's doing quite well again for Haas, currently up to seventh.

• 13:22 Lap 12

  Race leader, Daniel Ricciardo, comes in to the pit lane for his change to the medium tyres. He rejoins in sixth place.

• 13:22 Lap 12

  Max Verstappen moves into the lead of the race, apparently the first Dutch driver to ever do so.

• 13:23 Lap 13

  Max Verstappen comes into the pit lane too, that promotes Vettel into the lead. Räikkönen and Bottas also dive in for their first stops.

• 13:23 Lap 13

  It's Vettel first and Grosjean second, both having yet to stop.

• 13:24 Lap 13

  Ricciardo is back into third now, he's got Romain Grosjean in his sights and will want to get past as soon as possible to avoid losing time in the dirty air.

• 13:26 Lap 15

  Fernando Alonso makes his way round the outside of a Manor. Rio Haryanto currently running in 12th place as he started on the medium compounds and takes a longer first stint.

• 13:27 Lap 15

  Tweet from @HaasF1Team: "Hey look, @RGrosjean P2 at the moment with @EstebanGtz P5. Might screen grab that one. L13/66 #SpanishGP"

• 13:28 Lap 16

  Vettel pits from the lead of the race, so all eyes on Ricciardo to ensure he can keep the lead as he rounds the final corner, heads down the home straight, and easily stays ahead of the Ferrari.

• 13:29 Lap 16

  Romain Grosjean also pits, so hopefully Haas took that screenshot quickly. He's down to 13th now.

• 13:30 Lap 17

  Thus, the order is restored with two Red Bulls followed by two Ferraris.

• 13:32 Lap 18

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	RIC	1:30.802
  2nd	VER	+1.871
  3rd	VET	+3.478
  4th	RAI	+7.740
  5th	BOT	+14.886

• 13:34 Lap 19

  Everyone has stopped once now, except for Haryanto who is going his own way. Hülkenberg and Kvyat have dropped a place each from where they started, otherwise everyone has improved thanks in part to the Mercedes DNFs.

• 13:35 Lap 20

  Also notable, most drivers went on to the medium compounds, except for Grosjean and Gutiérrez who opted for another set of softs. Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber (yes, they're still in it), also took on more yellows.

• 13:36 Lap 21

  Battle for 9th

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  9	ALO	-
  10	MAS	+0.492
  11	GRO	+0.431
  12	HUL	+0.539

• 13:37 Lap 21

  Tweet from @SomersF1: Both Rosberg and Hamilton thanking their lucky stars that Mercedes don't have a sister team...

• 13:38 Lap 22

  Hülkenberg has smoke coming from the back of his Force India, and the team instruct him to pull over by a fire marshal quickly.

• 13:38 Lap 22

  Yellow flags as the fire marshals get to work.

• 13:39 Lap 23

  

• 13:40 Lap 24

  Fire marshals not doing the best job ever, so Hülkenberg takes over to do the job himself.

• 13:40 Lap 24

  Haryanto has pitted now, another set of medium tyres going on that Manor car, as he continues to circle at the rear of the field.

• 13:42 Lap 25

  It's taking a long time to get that Force India out the way, so the yellow flags are still being waved in sector 3.

• 13:42 Lap 25

  Verstappen is hovering within a second of his teammate and race leader Daniel Ricciardo. Will they be allowed to race?

• 13:43 Lap 26

  Haryanto is busy getting into everyone's way, only because he's being lapped. He pulls out wide on the home straight and Ricciardo follows to try and get some slip-stream. It doesn't really help him though, the pressure is still on from behind.

• 13:44 Lap 26

  Felipe Massa and Daniil Kvyat come into the pitlane. Kvyat not making much of an impression in his first race back at Toro Rosso.

• 13:45 Lap 27

  Button still running well in eighth, and still ahead of Alonso. Romain Grosjean has just moved back into the top ten thanks to the pit stop of Massa.

• 13:46 Lap 28

  Track is clear - finally!!

• 13:47 Lap 28

  With Hülkenberg's car finally cleared away, the Force India team have all their hopes on Sergio Pérez - the Mexican currently running in seventh place.

• 13:48 Lap 29

  Daniel Ricciardo makes a late dive into the pit lane from the lead of the race, it's the soft compound going on the car, so speculation now that he'll have to stop again before the end of the race.

• 13:48 Lap 29

  Felipe Massa sets the fastest lap of the race so far with a 1:29.705.

• 13:50 Lap 30

  Max Verstappen is back in the lead for a while, then, as Ferrari react to Ricciardo's stop and bring in Sebastian Vettel for his second stop. Ricciardo easily retains his position with Vettel precariously close to Bottas in fifth.

• 13:52 Lap 31

  Fastest Sector Times

  Sector 1	F Massa	24.413
  Sector 2	S Vettel	33.118
  Sector 3	D Ricciardo	30.401
  Ideal lap		1:27.932

• 13:52 Lap 31

  Tweet from @nigelmansell: First lap accidents between same team drivers are rare. Mercs and the Stewards will have a challenge to determine who's more at fault.

• 13:54 Lap 33

  Toto Wolff: "From a team’s perspective we have looked at the pictures. It’s not clear cut. Nico had a good turn one and turn two. Lewis tried to dive in, Nico closed the door. I would say let’s wait what the stewards say. For us, it’s not a situation where you give 100% of the blame to one of the drivers.

  "Both of them were upset about the situation. They know what effort went into building the car and the engine, and there wasn’t any finger pointing. We’re beyond that."

• 13:55 Lap 34

  Also from Wolff: "We owe it to Formula One and the fans to let them race, and we just have to get on with it."

• 13:56 Lap 34

  Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen has popped into the pit lane for a set of hards - he's the first driver to put on the orange stripes this race.

• 13:56 Lap 34

  Romain Grosjean overtakes Jolyon Palmer, a close move, and almost pointless, as Palmer pulls into the pit lane for his second stop of the day.

• 13:57 Lap 35

  Replays show the two Haas drivers actually bumped tyres as they jostled for position behind the Renault of Palmer.

• 13:58 Lap 35

  Max Verstappen comes into the pit lane from the lead. Red Bull split their strategy by putting the medium compounds on Verstappen's car. He rejoins behind Vettel in fourth, but shouldn't have to stop again.

• 13:58 Lap 35

  Kimi Räikkönen is in the lead of the race, and it's likely that when he comes in he'll also take on the mediums again as Ferrari would be smart to split their strategy too.

• 13:59 Lap 36

  In he comes, the Finn responding to Max's stop. It is the white stripes that go on the Ferrari, and Räikkönen rejoins behind Verstappen for fourth place. He's also got Haryanto in front of him, which is just a traffic problem rather than a position problem.

• 14:00 Lap 37

  The Ferrari mechanics assemble back out in the pit lane, but both Vettel and Räikkönen pass the pit entry and do not come in.

• 14:01 Lap 38

  Replays show Romain Grosjean bouncing across the gravel for an uncomfortable ride.

• 14:02 Lap 38

  Sebastian Vettel does come into the pit lane this time, takes on the medium tyres and rejoins in fourth place.

• 14:03 Lap 39

  Jolyon Palmer, in 17th place, gets a radio message to warn him that the race leader is closing up behind him. "I can barely see him in the mirrors," he stresses. He'll close up soon enough, I'm sure.

• 14:04 Lap 39

  Carlos Sainz comes into the pit lane next, he drops back to eighth place.

• 14:06 Lap 40

  Tweet from @virtualstatman: Wow, Max Verstappen can win this race.... if he is two-stopping he can legitimately win today if he keeps that gap at 10 seconds

• 14:09 Lap 43

  Pit Stop Analysis

  Driver	Felipe Massa
  Team	Williams
  Pit lane	21.831s
  Stopped	2.6s

• 14:09 Lap 43

  The Williams crew have secured the fastest pit stop in every race so far this year. They are really exceptional at the moment.

• 14:10 Lap 44

  Daniel Ricciardo comes into the pit lane, a crucial moment for the Red Bull driver.

• 14:11 Lap 44

  Medium compounds quickly bolted to the Australian's car. Vettel gets past him, putting Ricciardo in fourth.

• 14:12 Lap 44

  Replays show the two Sauber drivers narrowly avoiding a collision, learning lessons from the Mercedes pair I guess!

• 14:15 Lap 47

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	VER	1:29.441
  2nd	RAI	+1.056
  3rd	VET	+7.893
  4th	RIC	+13.104

• 14:15 Lap 47

  Fernando Alonso has pulled off track, reporting a loss of power in the McLaren.

• 14:16 Lap 47

  Yellow flags as the car is tucked up against the wall on the grass, but in a slightly awkward position.

• 14:16 Lap 48

  Angry Alonso, in front of the home crowd, slams his gloves down. The team were on for a double points finish again, but the engine just powered down and left Alonso with nothing.

• 14:17 Lap 48

  Both the Renault drivers are on the hard compounds, and are likely to be the only team to use the orange tyres in this race.

• 14:18 Lap 49

  Räikkönen is closing the gap to Verstappen, and he's within the DRS limit so will have the advantage on the race leader.

• 14:19 Lap 49

  Ricciardo is also closing the gap to Vettel, it's down to three seconds, as he looks to regain the position on the Ferrari.

• 14:21 Lap 51

  Ricciardo cuts another second from the gap to Vettel.

• 14:22 Lap 51

  Team radio from Marcus Ericsson: "He's moving everywhere in the braking zone, it's dangerous. We're teammates, come on."

• 14:24 Lap 53

  Räikkönen is maintaining the close gap to race leader Verstappen, it's varying from three tenths to seven tenths, but there's been no progress yet.

• 14:24 Lap 53

  Vettel has just 1.4 seconds over Ricciardo now.

• 14:26 Lap 54

  Tweet from @pirellisport: This is going to be fascinating. Who wins will depend on who uses the tyres best from here to the finish

• 14:27 Lap 55

  Team radio from Jenson Button: "Get that car out the way. He's going to cost us time. I know he thinks he's quick, but he's not."

  Haryanto is getting in everyone's way today!

• 14:27 Lap 55

  Daniil Kvyat dives into the pit lane for the third time, he takes on the soft compound and immediately sets the fastest lap of the race so far.

• 14:28 Lap 56

  Ten laps to go.

• 14:29 Lap 56

  Ricciardo is within half a second of Vettel now, he's hounding that Ferrari just as much as Räikkönen is returning the favour up front.

• 14:32 Lap 58

  To heighten the tension, Vettel is closing the gap to his teammate as well, there's just under five seconds now. It doesn't look like the three stop strategy has worked, but it could be tight.

• 14:33 Lap 58

  Tweet from @HaasF1Team: Sadly that's a retirement for @RGrosjean at the #SpanishGP. #HaasF1

• 14:33 Lap 59

  Grosjean has come into the pitlane and won't rejoin the action now.

• 14:33 Lap 59

  Ricciardo makes a dive to the inside of Vettel, and got the position but overshot the following corner and had to concede again. He'll have to do that work all over again.

• 14:34 Lap 60

  Team radio from Sebastian Vettel, complaining once again on a driver coming from so far behind. "What are we doing, racing or ping pong?"

• 14:36 Lap 61

  The leaders are coming up to some more traffic ahead. Button basically came to an abrupt halt to let them carry on unhindered.

• 14:36 Lap 61

  Ricciardo takes another late swipe at the Ferrari ahead, but locks up into the corner. He's getting desperate now.

• 14:37 Lap 62

  Tweet from @ForceIndiaF1: That famous contact sport, ping-pong.

• 14:37 Lap 62

  Five laps to go.

• 14:39 Lap 63

  Button overtakes Gutiérrez for ninth place, Haas hanging on to a point position for now but Kvyat is close behind.

• 14:41 Lap 64

  Ricciardo has dropped back a bit now, he does pull to the side down the home straight but he's not close enough to scare Vettel this time.

• 14:43 Lap 65

  Daniil Kvyat was lapped by Ricciardo, but then unlapped himself as the Red Bull driver drops back. Puncture for Ricciardo!

• 14:43 Lap 66

  Final lap.

• 14:44 Lap 66

  Ricciardo is trawling the circuit, he gets back to the pit lane on three tyres.

• 14:45

  Max Verstappen wins the Spanish Grand Prix!!

• 14:45

  First win for Max Verstappen, winning an astounding race for Red Bull.

• 14:46

  Race Winner

  Driver	M Verstappen
  Team	Red Bull
  Race time	1:41:40.017
  Race distance	307.104km
  Average speed	181.241km/h

• 14:47

  Team radio from Max Verstappen, understated as ever.

  Horner: "Max Verstappen, you are a race winner, fantastic. What a great debut, what a debut. Great job."

  Max: "Thank you very much Christian."

• 14:48

  Carlos Sainz crossed the line sixth, that's his best finishing position to date, and he must be happy to outperform Kvyat today.

• 14:49

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	3	M Verstappen	2
  2	3	K Räikkönen	2
  3	3	S Vettel	3
  4	-1	D Ricciardo	4
  5	2	V Bottas	2
  6	2	C Sainz	2
  7	2	S Pérez	2
  8	10	F Massa	3
  9	3	J Button	2
  10	3	D Kvyat	4

• 14:51

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	VER	1:31.684
  2nd	RAI	+0.616
  3rd	VET	+5.581

• 14:53

  Team radio from Kimi Räikkönen: "Sorry guys, I tried, but as I got close it was so difficult to follow the car through the last corner... but thanks for the good tactics, we managed to recover from a pretty awful start again."

• 14:53

  Verstappen looks pleased as punch on the top step of the podium, and there's a track invasion underneath him as fans start running to get the best view they can.

• 14:55

  The national anthems play out, the Dutch one, followed by the Austrian one - that's a new combination!

• 14:55

  Trophies, and then champagne!

• 15:01

  Podium interviews - Max Verstappen: "It feels amazing, I can’t believe it. It was a great race. I have to say thank you to the team to give me such a great car. To win straight away in the first race, it’s a great feeling. From a very young age, my dad helped me a lot. To achieve this, amazing."

• 15:02

  Podium interviews - Kimi Räikkönen: "I’m happy for Max but disappointed for myself. That’s racing. We gave our best today after a quite difficult day yesterday and a pretty poor start. We tried, I was fast, but once we got close, I couldn’t follow close enough in the last course. Losing downforce. After yesterday, we would have been happy to take second and third, but we got so close today it’s even more disappointing. That’s part of racing and at least we got good points for the team."

• 15:02

  Podium interviews - Sebastian Vettel: "First of all, many congratulations to Max. It’s a great achievement and in the end it’s his day. For us, we’d have loved to have been closer and in front. But we tried everything, we tried with strategy, it didn’t quite work today. Nevertheless, it’s a great effort from the team. After a not so good day yesterday, to come back and recover, but as I said, it’s Max’s day, and as a sportsman we have to respect that. Well done again to him and to the team."

• 15:04

  Whodathunkit?

  2016 Race Wins

  Pos	Driver	Total
  1	N Rosberg	4
  2	M Verstappen	1

• 15:05

  Retirements

  Driver	Reason	Lap
  N Rosberg	Accident	1
  L Hamilton	Accident	1
  N Hülkenberg	Smoky car	22
  F Alonso	Loss of power	47
  R Grosjean	Unknown	58

• 15:06

  Ricciardo shares his congratulations for his teammate, but admits he's bitter about how the strategy worked out on his side of the garage.

• 15:09

  An incredibly tense and interesting race in the end, I certainly wasn't expecting to enjoy the Spanish GP quite as much as I did. I imagine it's tough to be a Mercedes employee right now, but they'll move on quick enough and probably try not to talk about it as much as the media would like.

• 15:10

  Max Verstappen quite rightly makes headlines today as the youngest F1 winner, but it's also created an interesting dynamic between him and Ricciardo. "Your time will come," Horner said over the radio to a silent Ricciardo at the end of the race.

• 15:10

  Lots of good midfield points going around again - Williams secured a double points finish, Button picked up some points for McLaren after the disappointment of Alonso retiring. Kvyat managed to squeeze into the top ten but didn't quite match Sainz's achievements today.

• 15:11

  Two weeks now to the Monaco Grand Prix, where if nothing else, you're guaranteed to have some more on track incidents to talk about. See you then!