Three things we learnt from the Spanish Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg finally took his first victory of the 2015 season as the Mercedes Formula 1 team once again finished one-two at the Spanish Grand Prix. Rosberg led the race in it’s entirety and was unthreatened all weekend from pole position until the chequered flag. His Mercedes team-mate, Lewis Hamilton came in at second position almost 17.5 seconds behind him and Ferrari’s four-time world champion, Sebastian Vettel, finished the race 27.7 seconds behind in third. The win helped Rosberg close the gap on championship leader Hamilton to 20 points and could ignite his title challenge. [caption id=“attachment_2238562” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Winner German’s Nico Rosberg and second placed Britain’s Lewis Hamilton pose for a photo with members of their team. AP[/caption] Here are the three things we took away from this past weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg needed this win desperately Before this race, Rosberg had struggled to match Lewis Hamilton’s race pace. As the Telegraph mentions, " Rosberg has looked second best to Lewis Hamilton in every department." However, things might finally be looking up for Rosberg. The Circuit de Catalunya’s layout is not an overtaking track, and after Rosberg managed to steal away pole position from Hamilton, he was the favourite going into race day. Last year Rosberg made his big push during the European leg for the Formula One season. Perhaps his win in Spain will set him up for a repeat and spice up the race for the driver’s title. We’re not complaining, the Championship battle is finally starting to heat up. Hamilton vs Mercedes radio battle continues Hamilton has had a few extremely terse radio conversations with his engineer in the past few races about talking to him while he’s hurtling down corners. Here is the full exchange between Hamilton and the team: Engineer: “Looks like it is a big ask to do it, so maybe better to consolidate the position.” Lewis Hamilton: “If you are saying it is not possible let me know.” Engineer: “Yeah I don’t think it would be possible with the remaining laps, we’d be better just looking after this one, let him have it.” Hamilton: “Is it impossible is what I’m asking?” Engineer: “Yes, he is going to respond if we pick the pace up. It would be impossible.” This isn’t the first time this season Lewis Hamilton has hit out at his race engineer. During the Malaysian Grand Prix there were a few harsh exchanges when Lewis complained about his steering wheel being too hot and was once again annoyed at being spoken to during corners. Lewis is not the most likeable person on the F1 circuit and his new contract with Mercedes still hasn’t been signed. According to the rumours flying around the paddock, contract talks have not been progressing well. If we don’t hear by the Monaco Grand Prix all might not be well in the Merc camp. Hamilton is reportedly demanding a contract worth 50 million euros. You catch more flies with honey, Lewis. Mercedes don’t have any real competition yet Whether it is Lewis Hamilton on the podium or Nico Rosberg, the 2015 season tells us one thing so far: Mercedes are just way too good to catch. The German team has gone 24 consecutive races where they have finished on the podium. It is the second-longest streak in F1 history. This is the 14th one-two for Mercedes’ drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, matching Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s record. So far, there has not been a single stand out race in the 2015 season. And sadly, the first European race of the season will definitely not be considered one. Ferrari is the only team on the grid that can even come close to matching Mercedes’ race pace and giving them some much needed competition. “All in all, I think third is the best we could do for the pace we had,” said Sebastian Vettel in the post race interviews. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong, it think it was just something coming together and maybe this is not the best week end for us in terms of competitiveness, but I believe it’s probably more down to conditions rather then something being wrong with the car. “For some reasons we didn’t find the same rhythm of the last two events, but I’m sure that in a couple of races we’ll come back stronger.” There were 27 seconds between third place Sebastian Vettel and race winner Nico Rosberg. That is 27 seconds to much.