Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Barcelona-Catalunya Grand prix

  • Round 7 – Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix

    Lewis Hamilton secured a magnificent maiden Grand Prix victory for Ferrari in Barcelona to bring Mercedes’ 2026 winning streak to an end, beating George Russell and Lando Norris while Kimi Antonelli failed to finish the race.

    Although Ferrari’s initial choice to start the Briton on soft tyres didn’t help him take the lead on the opening lap, they gambled on a three-stop strategy which played out flawlessly as Hamilton gained a free stop under a Virtual Safety Car.

    He delivered a series of stunning laps to gradually increase his advantage over the Silver Arrows and claim his first win in nearly two years, cutting down Antonelli’s lead in the Standings at the same time.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Russell, P3: Norris, P4: Verstappen, P5: Piastri, P6: Hadjar, P7: Gasly, P8: Lawson, P9: Lindblad and P10: Colapinto.

    What a result for Hamilton! It was coming, I could feel him getting these good results and that the first win in Ferrari was coming and he had a superb race! He had an excellent drive, and everyone thought at first with being on the soft tyres and basically confirming a three stop it wasn’t going to work – but the VSC helped and it put all the pieces of the puzzle together!
    As for Leclerc, another weekend to forget, crashing out in the race due to going through the gravel as his power steering was broken.

    A decent result for Russell – but seeing as he started on pole I did think he’d run away with the win but he was too busy fighting Antonelli for position which then allowed Lewis to get involved and take that from them.
    As for Antonelli a weekend to forget for him – I think he would’ve taken the DNF hard as his done superb this season and was on a streak of 5 wins and then to not finish due to a mechanical issue it’s not nice – but what I will say is even if he did finish he wouldn’t of been on the top step!

    Back on the podium for Lando Norris – a great result for him in the end. Being there around the top four matters because incase of a retirement or a penalty being added, you need to be close enough and that’s what Lando did.
    5th for Piastri – a decent result, overall a good points haul for the team, which they have been missing.

    4th for Verstappen – a bit in no mans land this weekend, not really much pace compared to the Ferrari’s and Mercedes but a good damage limitation from the Dutch driver.
    As for his teammate, Hadjar finished in 6th – a good points haul for the team again.

    Double points for both Racing Bulls and Alpine! Quite a strong showing from both teams and drivers.

    Now we have a break for a week and then we have another double header but our first stop is the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix on the 26th – 28th June!

    First I have to start and say a huge grazia to everyone here, my team here at Ferrari, everyone back at the factory, Fred for believing in me and bringing me to this team. I started out a dream last year which seemed almost impossible during my time last year, but we never gave up hope and the team just continued to lift me up. We made so many changes and we made so many improvements, and on top of that I’ve got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for. Thank you, thank you to everybody.
    Hamilton on the win.

  • Round 7 – Barcelona-Catalunya Qualifying

    George Russell has secured pole position for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in a close fought Qualifying hour, beating Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli after Charles Leclerc crashed out of the session.

    Bouncing back from a frustrating round in Monaco, the Mercedes driver was consistently one of the quickest throughout Qualifying and his spectacular effort of 1m 14.679s was unbeatable, earning him a third pole position of the season.

    Hamilton made his return to the front row in style with a last-gasp attempt, demoting Antonelli to third place to make the Italian’s lowest Grand Prix Qualifying result so far this season.

    The full top 10 are- Pole: Russell, P2: Hamilton, P3: Antonelli, P4: Norris, P5: Verstappen, P6: Hadjar, P7: Piastri, P8: Lawson, P9: Hulkenberg and P10: Leclerc.

    What a result for Russell, back on pole position, he definitely needed that after the disaster of a weekend last week, now to get the win surely??!! As for his teammate, another great result in third! Antonelli is always lurking around ready to pounce.

    Another great result for Hamilton, for a minute it looked like he was going to get pole position! But still an excellent result for the Ferrari driver. As for his teammate, not a good qualifying session, Leclerc will be looking at staying out of trouble at the start of the race.

    A good result for Norris! Makes up for an awful weekend last weekend, hopefully he can turn it into a decent result and get those points he missed out on last weekend.

    5th and 6th for the Red Bull boys, a semi decent result – Verstappen was looking like he couldn’t really hook the car up when it mattered, will be interesting to see how they get on in the race and what there strategies are going to be.

    Another good result for Liam Lawson in 8th, he will be looking for another points finish.

    Hulkenbergggg in the top 10! We love to see it, hopefully the Audi driver can turn it into a decent points finish for the team.

    It’s been a great weekend so far – I kind of feel like my old self again, where every lap I’m doing my job and always fighting in those top positions. Obviously the last few races, for numerous reasons haven’t quite been on our side, but I came into this weekend with just a clean slate, felt good and, yeah, just good to be on pole.
    Russell on pole position.

  • F3 – RND 3 – Day 1

    Practice-
    Theophile Nael was fastest in this morning’s Barcelona Free Practice, leading a 1-2-3 for Campos Racing at their home event.

    The Frenchman ended up on top with a 1:28.422 to take top spot ahead of Ugo Ugochukwu and Ernesto Rivera.

    AIX Racing were the first team to send their drivers out for some push laps with Fernando Barrichello setting early pace with a 1:30.655 – over seven tenths quicker than teammate Yevan David.

    Just as they completed their laps, the rest of the field headed out with just under 30 minutes left in the session.

    Bruno del Pino went fastest on a 1:29.425 for Van Amersfoort Racing but there were several setting quicker sectors behind him.

    One of those was Taito Kato took over at the top on a 1:29.103, but it was incredibly close with Freddie Slater just 0.002s behind the ART Grand Prix driver.

    The Campos trio then took over at the top with Nael quickest on a 1:28.422, over two tenths ahead of Ugochukwu, as Rivera went to third, 0.365s off P1.

    The entire field returned to the pitlane after those flying laps, before hitting the track once again with under 14 minutes to go.

    However, there were few improvements as the tyre performance started to drop.

    This left as Campos 1-2-3 with Nael ahead of Ugochukwu and Rivera. Alessandro Giusti was fourth ahead of Kato with Brando Badoer in sixth.

    Qualifying-

    Theophile Nael took his third consecutive Aramco Pole Position award, beating Campos Racing teammate Ugo Ugochukwu to pole in Barcelona.

    Nael’s 1:28.263 was enough to seal him take P1 ahead of Ugochukwu by just 0.039s, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi in third.

    After the first set of laps, it was Ugochukwu that led the way with a 1:28.707 with Taito Kato in second, 0.491s behind the American driver.

    There were three Campos cars in the top five, with Ernesto Rivera and Nael in third and fifth respectively, Brando Badoer sandwiched between the duo in P4.

    The drivers were brought in after those first runs with the teams putting on another set of new Hard tyres.

    They returned to the track with less than 18 minutes to go and Bruno del Pino went quickest by 0.086s with a 1:28.621.

    However several drivers were improving, in particular Nael, who set the three fastest sectors to go P1 with a 1:28.263, bettering Ugochukwu by just 0.039s.

    Just six minutes remained on the clock when the field started to filter back out on to the track.

    Nael did not improve on his final lap leaving himself under pressure from those behind him. However nobody could beat the Campos driver’s time giving him his third consecutive pole position to start the season.