Spanish GP: Race sees Williams Racing come so close

Qualifying for the sixty six lap 2021 Spanish Grand Prix would see the Williams Racing Team finish in 15th and 19th with George Russell leading Nicholas Latifi. Now come tne race they would choose the medium tyre for the start. On pole was Hamilton from Verstappen, Bottas, Leclerc, Ocon, Sainz, Ricciardo, Perez Norris and Alonso in tenth. They would all be starting on the soft tyre. Outside the top ten the tyre choice would only see Raikkonen on the medium tyre with the rest of the field on the soft. The cars would complete their parade lap and with the start it would be Verstappen passing Hamilton at Turn one. Leclerc was third followed by Bottas and Ricciardo. The Williams drivers were down in 17th and 19th with George losing places at the start.

George would be passed by Tsunoda seeing the Williams drivers now 18th and 19th. It may be the case that both drivers are suffering the same issues with running in traffic. Lap five and Verstappen was leading by 1.6s over Hamilton with Leclerc still third. Bottas was fourth followed by Ricciardo, Perez, Ocon, Sainz, Norris and Alonso tenth. Lap nine and there would be a yellow flag as we had Tsunoda stop with an engine issue. George would get past Schumacher to be 16th with Nicholas 18th. With the position of Tsunoda's car we would see a Safety Car deployed. Giovinazzi would pit with a puncture but there was a mix up with this tyres seeing him to drop to 19th. This would see the Williams drivers 15th and 17th. But both Williams drivers would pit switching to the medium tyre.

This would see the pair come back out in 17th and 18th. Simon Roberts from Williams would comment that this double stack of both cars was something they train for. George would pass Mazepin to be 16th and was followed by Nicholas with the pair now 16th and 17th. With the restart Verstappen was able to keep his lead over Hamilton and Leclerc. George would pass Schumacher for 15th as DRS was enabld again after the restart. Gasly in 13th had received a penalty for been out of position at teh start while George was looking at passing Raikkonen. Nicholas would pass Schumacher for 16th seeing the Williams drivers 15th and 16th.Lap seventeen and Verstappen remained in the lead over Hamilton and Leclerc.

There was blistering of the rear tyres of both Verstappen and Hamilton such was their pace. Gasly would pit also taking his penalty returning in 19th on the medium tyre. This would see the Williams drivers now 14th and 15th. Lap twenty one and both Williams drivers had completed eleven laps on their medium tyres. Alonso and Vettel would pit on lap twenty three taking on the medium tyre. This would see George and Nicholas 12th and 13th. Sainz and Stroll were in next taking on the medium tyres. The Williams were now 10th and 11th with Giovinazzi 12th. There were more pit stops with Bottas, Ocon and Norris all coming in. This would see George and Nicholas 8th and 9th but on used tyres. Verstappen pits on lap twenty six but his stop was a bit slow with Verstappen now fifth on the medium tyre.

The order now was Hamilton, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Perez, Bottas, and Raikkonen. But Ricciardo would pit on lap twenty seven taking on the medium tyre. George and Nicholas were now 7th and 9th split by Ricciardo. Hamilton was going long still on the soft tyre. Ricciardo would pass George seeing the Williams drivers eighth and tenth. But Nicholas would pit again as Hamilton also came in taking on the medium tyre but came out behind Verstappen. George would also pit again dropping to 16th one place ahead of Nicholas. Bottas was now third ahead of Leclerc, who had pitted, Ricciardo, Perez, Raikkonen, Sainz, Ocon and Norris tenth. The Williams drivers were now 16th and 17th. George would pass Giovinazzi for 15th.

Verstappen continued to keep Hamilton behind with forty two laps completed. Bottas was a distant third while for Williams George and Nicholas were now 12th and 13th. But Hamilton would pit taking on new medium tyres. He was now third behind Bottas. Nicholas would be lapped by the leader with Hamilton now twenty two seconds behind Verstappen. Behind the Williams drivers were Stroll, Raikkonen and Vettel all on the soft tyre having pitted. Both Ricciardo and Sainz would pit from fifth and sixth dropping to 8th and 9th. Gasly would pity seeing George now 11th and Nicholas 13th. The order was Verstappen, Bottas, Hamilton, Leclerc, Perez, Ocon, Ricciardo, Norris, Sainz and Alonso tenth. Nicholas would drop to 15th as he was passed by others on quicker tyres passed him.

Lap fifty two and Hamilton was clsoing the gap to his team-mate in second. Norris would pit taking to the soft seeing George now in 10th while Nicholas had pitted switching to the soft now in 17th. with tweklve laps remainign. Bottas would also pit switching to the soft tyre no doubt lookinbg for the fastets lap point. Ten laps remaining and Verstappen was still leading from Hamilton and now Lelcerc. Lap fifty nine and Perez would pit taking on teh soft tyre. Leclerc would pit returning in front of Perez. George was still 11th but 0.4 behind Alonso in tenth. At the fron hamilton would take the lead from Verstappen with the Red BUll having no tyres left to defend. But for George he would be swamped by a train of cars all on teh soft tyre. He would drop to 15th. He would say to his team "The tyres are gone. Sorry guys I gave it all "

Alonso would pit seeing George now 14th and Nicholas 16th. Verstappen would set the fastest lap getting the championsjip point. The order was mow Hamilton from Verstappen, Bottas, Leclerc, Perez, Ricciardo, Sainz, Borris, Ocon and Gasly tenth. This is how the race would end with the Williams drivers finishing in 14th and 16th. Hamilton would take victory while for Williams it was very much a cae of being so close to that result but still so far. Such a disappointment for all at Williams Racing.