A beautifully composed drive in Spain gave Nico Rosberg his first win of the season and ninth career victory, but it also moved him level with Australia’s late, great triple world champion Jack Brabham on 31 career podiums. Fittingly, Rosberg achieved the feat 56 years to the day that ‘Black Jack’ recorded his maiden F1 win at Monaco, which also happened to be the first win for a rear-engined car.
Rosberg, who has raced for Mercedes since 2010, also had the honour of completing the 2,000th lap in the lead for a Silver Arrows works team, which was achieved on lap six of Sunday’s race. The German also maintains his unusual record of finishing every race this season in the same position as he started, which will no doubt make him even keener to get pole position again in Monaco…
Behind Rosberg, Hamilton recovered from a bad start to complete Mercedes’ third one-two of the season. It was the Briton’s 75th career podium and his 12th in a row, dating back to last year’s race in Monza. Only two drivers in history have had longer streaks - Michael Schumacher (19) and Fernando Alonso (15).
Not only did Hamilton overhaul Sebastian Vettel in the race, he also surpassed the German for third place on the all-time consecutive races led list. The reigning champion has now led at least one lap in 14 straight events - three fewer than record holder Sir Jackie Stewart and one fewer than the next man on the list, Michael Schumacher.
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Third place gave Sebastian Vettel his fourth podium finish in five races. No Ferrari driver has scored more rostrums in their first five Grands Prix for the Scuderia than the German - a remarkable feat.
Elsewhere there were mixed fortunes for the three Spanish drivers on the grid. Having qualified a career high fifth on Saturday, Carlos Sainz continued his fine start to the season by recording his third points finish in five races with ninth. No other Spanish driver has done that, and in fact only one can boast a similar record - the little known Paco Godia, who claimed four top-ten finishes in his first five world championship starts, albeit over a five-year period between 1951 and 1956.
Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, failed to score points on home soil for the first time since 2008. The McLaren driver has now gone two whole years without a win - his last success coming in Barcelona in 2013. The final Spaniard on the grid, Roberto Merhi, did at least finish the race for Marussia, but 18th represents the rookie’s worst result to date.
