How many of your pre-race predictions for the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix were correct? Find out below!
1. WILL HAMILTON, BOTTAS AND VERSTAPPEN BE ON THE PODIUM?
YOUR PREDICTION: YES
CORRECT ANSWER: YES
For only the twelfth time in F1 history, the Spanish Grand Prix had an identical podium to the race before it. Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas finished on the podium together for the fourth time in the last five races. It’s the sixteenth time the trio have shared the top three positions.
2. WHICH SPANIARD WILL RECORD THE BEST HOME RESULT?
YOUR PREDICTION: CARLOS SAINZ
CORRECT ANSWER: CARLOS SAINZ
As almost 80% of you predicted, Carlos Sainz finished ahead of Fernando Alonso in the duo’s home race. Sainz maintained his record of scoring on every Spanish Grand Prix appearance with a seventh place finish. Alonso finished seventeenth following a late race pit stop. Sainz is yet to finish behind Alonso on home turf.
3. WHERE WILL RICCIARDO QUALIFY?
YOUR PREDICTION: 8th, 9th or 10th
CORRECT ANSWER: 6th or 7th
After struggling in qualifying at the Portuguese Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo returned to form at the Spanish Grand Prix. He set the seventh fastest time, out-qualifying team-mate Lando Norris for the third time this season.
4. HOW MANY POINTS WILL ALPHATAURI SCORE?
YOUR PREDICTION: 1-3 points
CORRECT ANSWER: 1-3 points
Pierre Gasly scored AlphaTauri’s only point at the Spanish Grand Prix with a tenth place finish. His day was not helped by a five-second time penalty, which he picked up after starting the race from beyond his grid slot. Yuki Tsunoda, in the other AlphaTauri car, was the only retirement of the race.
5. HOW MANY SAFETY CAR PERIODS WILL THERE BE?
YOUR PREDICTION: 1
CORRECT ANSWER: 1
As the majority predicted, there was a single Safety Car period in the Spanish Grand Prix. The Safety Car was called out after Yuki Tsunoda came to a halt at Turn 10.
Let us know how you got on with this race’s predictions! There’ll be more predictions to be made ahead of the next Grand Prix. Follow Lights Out on twitter to take part: @LightsOutF1Blog!
After graduating in 2015 with a First Class honours degree in English Language and Literature, Nicky Haldenby, a lifelong fan of Formula 1, founded the Lights Out F1 Blog in 2016. The blog has become a firm fan-favourite, delving deep into the sport’s history books and lifting the cover on unusual F1 statistics.
Nicky also writes at F1Destinations and Motorsport Guides and can be heard as the resident stats man on the 2 Soft Compounds Podcast. His work has appeared on WTF1, BadgerGP, motorsport.com, Sky Sports F1 and BBC Radio 5 Live. Nicky is also the host of the F1 Rewind Podcast.