
Is Lewis Hamilton stronger than Sebastian Vettel or vice versa? The world champion believes the only way to find out is to get him and the German behind the wheel of the same car. Vettel is the only driver other than Hamilton to have won a race this season, and Ferrari seem destined to compete with Mercedes for the F1 World Championship.
"I'm looking forward to battling with him on the track and with other drivers. I think in the end you'll never have a 'real race' unless you're driving the same car, because there will always be differences in the cars. We might have more power, but they might have better brakes; we might be better on one track, but they might be better on another. I remember the days of McLaren vs. Ferrari; they had a slightly longer wheelbase and their car was better at using the tyres, especially the rear ones, because their car was understeering and ours was oversteering. They were better on high speed tracks and better on low speed tracks".
He adds:
"We balance each other out during the year, but of course when you're fighting with your team-mate it's a real battle because you both have the same material. The cars are getting closer and closer, so I am looking forward to that battle, not only with Nico, but also with Kimi and Vettel".
If Lewis Hamilton has not yet renewed his contract with Mercedes, that is not a problem for Ferrari. Maurizio Arrivabene makes it clear:
"Why would I need Hamilton when I already have a heavyweight like Vettel? If I had to make a change, I would think more about a young and talented driver to work with Sebastian".
It's also not certain that the second Ferrari car will change hands, even though Kimi Raikkonen's contract expires in December:
"If it continues like this, we will extend it for another year. He displays typical German traits such as dedication to work, precision in analysing the smallest details and pointing out a possible malfunction. And in this case, even if it's midnight, he has to find a solution".
Speaking of Ferrari, in his first interview since leaving the Maranello factory, Luca Montezemolo couldn't help but start with Michael Schumacher.
"In August, during the Formula 1 break, I always invited Michael and Corinna to my house in Bologna. They would come with Gina Marie and little Mick, who was a year old or maybe less. The evenings were very bright and we would have dinner in the garden. Few people know this, but Schumacher was, is, obsessed with mosquitoes. I remember he used to get up and run to Mick's bed, which was in the coolest part of the terrace, and adjust the mosquito net. He got up a hundred times a night. Corinna and I would tease him and laugh at him. When I think of that child now standing on the podium, champagne in hand, and Michael instead... Michael and I shared twelve incredibly intense years. And when I think of him today, I can only be grateful".
And when he thinks of Ferrari?
"Next to my family, Ferrari is the most important thing in my life. Maybe too important".

It didn't end well.
"No. But I have no intention of creating controversy. Nor do I want to take credit. When I see Ferrari win, I am happy. And now I am happy. Period".
After Ferrari's victory in Malaysia under Marchionne and Arrivabene, they certainly took the credit.
"It's a result that comes from afar...".
Wasn't it a bit inelegant?
"A bit, yes. More than inelegant, I would say a lack of style. But I told him: Ferrari is too important for me. At that moment, I had before me the result of a beautiful relay between the work we had started in 2014 and the rationalisation and implementation carried out by those who arrived in 2015. And I was finally at peace with myself. In November, I knew that I had left a healthy company with over two billion euros in cash, without a single euro of debt, which was a key element in the success of the FCA listing, which will lead to an additional dividend of two billion and six, 90% of which will go to FCA and 10% to Piero Ferrari, who will pocket 260 million euros. However, I had the regret of 2014, the only real failure of my management. But I knew that I had worked well for 2015. So at that moment, when Vettel crossed the line first in Sepang, I had the confirmation that I had left not only a healthy company, but also a competitive team".
You seem to be taking credit again.
"Not at all. Marchionne and Arrivabene have been very good. They deserve thanks. I honestly think they also had a bit of luck: this year, apart from Mercedes, they have no other competitors. Williams hasn't improved, Red Bull has imploded and McLaren is in crisis... so now Ferrari starts every race with a podium in the bag. But luck is useless if you don't know how to use it. So for me it's a merit. Like the intelligence not to throw away the good things that have come before. Maybe I wouldn't have been so rash to say in December that 2015 was going to be a Calvary, that huge mistakes had been made in preparing for the new season and that winning a few races would be a miracle. But that's water under the bridge".
In reality, the beautiful relay looked more like a settling of scores.
"I realise that and I'm sorry, it could have been avoided".
Many were injured on the field. Stefano Domenicali, for example.
"He is a first-class manager. And I'm not surprised that he works for an important company like Audi. I tried to keep him because I thought he could be a valuable asset to our group. But I couldn't. 2014 was a disaster. We had the wrong design for the hybrid engine. While Mercedes had been working on it for at least two years, bringing together all the power and know-how of an industry, the German one, that was far ahead in hybrids, we didn't fully understand the extent of the revolution. In Bahrain, at the third race, I was in shock. Domenicali more than me. He resigned, I asked him to reconsider, he insisted".

And Marco Mattiacci? There is a lot of him in this Ferrari.
"In reality, Mattiacci had continued the good work started by Domenicali. I blame him for not understanding the environment and the mood".
Without taking credit, how do you explain Ferrari's resurgence?
"In January 2014, Felipe Massa called me on the phone from Jerez de la Frontera. He had just completed his first lap in the new car. Mr President, it's a disaster,' he said. There is no engine. A driver knows certain things. I understood that 2014 was over. I called Domenicali and we immediately started working on 2015. For the chassis, we were confident: we had returned to design in our own wind tunnel, new and efficient, after years of exile at Toyota. James Allison was working there, a man who, with a very modest budget at Lotus, had made a fantastic car that never wore out its tyres, just like today's Ferrari".
The problem was the engine. What did you do?
"We transferred some engineers who had worked on La Ferrari, the first hybrid road Ferrari, to the sports management. I remember the arguments with Amedeo Felisa, the CEO, who accused me of plundering the industrial department for the sports department. The key people were engineer Sassi and engineers Poggio, Marcigliano and Jean Jaq Is. Allison still says today that it was a great gift. By September we had already regained 45 bhp. Then, when Marmorini left, there was further growth".
It is said that Ferrari increased the F1 budget considerably.
"Not as far as I know. One of the things I accuse Domenicali of is never asking for an extra budget. Mattiacci was authorised to invest in the hybrid engine test benches. But nothing more".
And Arrivabene?
"I don't know. But knowing Marchionne and his desire to see Ferrari win, money won't be a problem for Arrivabene".
Do you regret allowing F1 to introduce these hybrid engines that you were not ready for?
"Hybrid engines are the future. But on reflection, yes, it would have been better to resist".
Arrivabene claims it was Marchionne who brought Vettel to Maranello.
"The first person to talk about Vettel at Ferrari was Schumacher. It was in the summer when he was going to come back to replace Massa. He told me the perfect driver for you is Seb. Domenicali wanted him desperately. And he brought him to my house in Bologna. He arrived with a box of Swiss chocolates. He was already a world champion, but he had a bit of a clumsy manner. He made a great impression on everyone. Mattiacci continued the work. Finally, when Marchionne and I saw that Alonso had become gloomy and was constantly expressing distrust in the team, we decided to make the change".

It was a big deal.
"Vettel certainly earns less than what Alonso was asking for for the extension. And then he helped Arrivabene, who is a man of great personality, to impose a new, better, more positive atmosphere".
Going back to the battle for leadership for a moment, you were in the running for the presidency of the F1 Group, in other words Formula One, but Marchionne turned you down. How did that end?
"I haven't heard anything more about it. But I'm not interested, I'm looking forward. And what I see is an F1 that, while remaining an extraordinary spectacle, is losing market share. Today, there is no one who can replace Bernie Ecclestone. I think he is the best and perhaps the only one capable of making changes, but I also think he should start working on creating his own successor".
At the moment, it cannot be Montezemolo, thanks also to Marchionne.
"I am happy like this, with the Olympic Games in Rome and the challenge of Alitalia. In F1, I have taken some satisfaction. From Lauda to Regazzoni, from Schumacher to Raikkonen, I have won 19 world titles. In a few weeks my name will be inscribed in the Automotive Hall of Fame alongside Enzo Ferrari and Giovanni Agnelli. And for those who come after me, I leave a healthy and competitive company".
The atmosphere at Ferrari is excellent. Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen has rekindled the Maranello team's ambitions, praising the renewed team spirit that has come with the arrival of his friend and team-mate Sebastian Vettel and the new sporting director, Maurizio Arrivabene.
"We're trying to beat each other, but it's a pleasant and friendly competition, which is great for the team: the atmosphere inside is excellent".
From Thursday 7th May to Sunday 10th May 2015, Formula 1 will gather at Montmelo after a three-week break to allow the teams to improve their respective cars. Ferrari will be looking to continue the good progress made since the start of the season.
"We know each other, Vettel is a normal guy and easy to work with, there is no politics involved. If something goes wrong, we can discuss it openly and solve it".
And on the new team principal, Maurizio Arrivabene, the Finn says:
"I like the way he handles things, whether it's a yes or a no, you always get an answer, there's nothing in between. He works hard and is very loyal; if something is wrong, he tells you. The atmosphere in the team is excellent and we try to put Ferrari in a winning position every weekend".
At the Barcelona circuit, Ferrari will also be looking to compete more and more on a par with Mercedes. Iñaki Rueda, responsible for Scuderia Ferrari's strategies, adds:

"We know that for the first European race, all the teams will have cars with a lot of developments, practically new compared to what we saw in Bahrain. As for us, we hope that our updates will allow us to get closer to Mercedes".
Rueda explains the challenges of the Montmelo circuit:
"It is traditionally a very hard track in terms of tyre wear and degradation: not surprisingly, we have seen a significant increase in the number of pit stops in recent years. However, the need for more stops is also a good opportunity to gain positions: on a track where it is difficult to overtake, you have to be able to play with tyre changes to overtake your opponents".
However, on the eve of one of the most important races of the season, Scuderia Ferrari's sporting director Massimo Rivola will not be in Barcelona or in the pits. Unofficially, Ferrari first spoke of a week's holiday and then of a personal problem for Rivola, but the truth is that the sporting director has been suspended. The causes of such a sensational and traumatic decision for an environment that had recently regained its serenity are still unclear. From what can be reconstructed, the reasons are not sporting. In addition to Rivola, two other members of the team, the logistics manager and the chef, have also been suspended. None of the three people affected by Maurizio Arrivabene's unexpected measure will be present in Barcelona, where Ferrari will try to catch up with Mercedes. Massimo Rivola, whose star had shone brightly in the days of Fernando Alonso and Stefano Domenicali, with whom he was a personal friend, and had dimmed somewhat with the arrival of Marco Mattiacci, had been chosen as a reference man within the team by Sebastian Vettel, with whom he had worked in the days of Scuderia Toro Rosso. Upon arriving in Maranello, it was the German who explicitly asked Maurizio Arrivabene not to move Rivola and to give him an even more central role in the team. Now the unexpected storm. Its causes and effects are still to be deciphered. The story is apparently more complicated. It turns out that the chef and catering manager had been the subject of unspecified complaints from management since Malaysia.
In Shanghai, he was left at home. This measure has now been extended to the logistics manager (which includes catering) and to Massimo Rivola, who, as team manager and sporting director, was in charge of the sector. As far as we know, Rivola is accused of not being aware of the actions of his subordinates. Given the scarcity of official information, it is very difficult to understand the real significance of this case. However, it might be interesting to know Rivola's recent history. Brought to Ferrari from Scuderia Toro Rosso by Stefano Domenicali, a personal friend and confidant, Massimo Rivola was accused by Marco Mattiacci's management of being too close to Alonso (so much so that many believe he left for McLaren). When Sebastian Vettel arrived in Maranello, Massimo Rivola was about to leave, but as the two were friends from the Toro Rosso days and respected each other, the German explicitly asked Maurizio Arrivabene - who initially seemed to want to follow Mattiacci's decisions - to keep him on. In short, the impression is that between his friendship with Stefano Domenicali and his relationship with Fernando Alonso, Massimo Rivola has not only paid for the responsibility of what happened in the catering area. He will be replaced in the garage by a deputy. It is to be hoped that the change will not upset the balance that Arrivabene and his team (including Rivola) have achieved. Sebastian Vettel believes so:
"With a bit of confidence, it will soon be a level playing field between us and Mercedes. Here in Barcelona we are bringing new things to the car, so we expect another step forward".
The aerodynamic improvements of the SF-15T give hope to the German, who wants to finish ahead of Hamilton and Rosberg again at the Spanish Grand Prix, as he did in Malaysia at Sepang, on the same tyres - medium and hard - that Pirelli brought to the circuit near Barcelona. At Montmeló, Ferrari will present the car with new wings, a revised floor and diffuser.

Sebastian Vettel said:
"We are trying everything, so we hope that the gap between us and them will close soon. We have to keep our feet on the ground. We know there is a long way to go, but this weekend we should have a good chance of winning. We have new things, so we will take a big step forward. The nice thing is to see how the team has moved in the right direction since I arrived".
Kimi Raikkonen adds:
"It was nice to get a good result in Bahrain, but since then the approach hasn't changed; we continue to work, always trying to improve. It's also good to be back in Europe. We've brought some updates here, but we don't know what the others are doing, so we'll have to wait and see what happens in the next few races. Overall, the package this year is pretty good and everyone is working well together. The team is giving me and Sebastian the same opportunities, and of course we are competing for the title, but in a fair way, for the good of the team. It's clear that we also want to win the Constructors' Championship, so it's important to have two cars in the points at all times. There have been improvements compared to Mercedes, but we know we are still behind and have a lot of work to do".
And that Ferrari have indeed returned to a competitive level is confirmed by Nico Rosberg:
"He's improved a lot, he's closer to us, so we have to be careful. But for now, we are still convinced that we are stronger and can do what is necessary to keep them at bay. After all, we are still the fastest in qualifying".
Meanwhile, there is growing speculation in the pits that Sebastian Vettel will be joined next year by Valtteri Bottas, who has been touted as a possible replacement for his compatriot Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel of Ferrari. The Finnish driver, who currently drives for Williams, denies these rumours, despite not having an agent representing his interests.
"I've read some of these stories and sometimes it's quite funny to hear about them, especially when you know there's no case, it doesn't exist".
He told journalists on Thursday at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.
"There are a lot of people who write about these things. The fact is that at the moment I am just concentrating on this season, trying to do the best for us and the team. The rest, I don't know yet".
Bottas, who is contracted to the Williams team until the end of November, added. On the sidelines of the Spanish Grand Prix, the presentation of FerrariLand will take place at PortAventura, the first theme park in Europe dedicated to the Maranello team. The laying of a brick from Enzo Ferrari's house on Thursday 7 May 2015 will mark the official start of this ambitious project, which will create an area within the resort on the Costa Dorada, about an hour from Barcelona.
"I'm not worried about racing here, the accident was three months ago".
Fernando Alonso returns to Barcelona, but the McLaren driver doesn't seem particularly worried. Three months ago, the serious incident during pre-season testing seemed to cast doubt on his participation in the World Championship.

"The recovery has taken longer than expected, but coming back here is an extra motivation; I want to put in a good performance in front of the home crowd. In Bahrain we made a good step forward, getting closer to getting into Q3 and scoring points. We want to finish on the podium and win races; step by step we'll see where we end up".
Alonso says he will be greeting the medical staff who looked after him in the days in hospital after the incident.
"It's one of the best teams I could imagine in hospital, they've been very kind and I'd like to have dinner with them, maybe on Sunday evening because I have to stay on Monday for a sponsor event".
One of the more curious aspects of the traditional press conference was a striking pair of sunglasses worn by the Spanish rider.
"Not fashion or sponsor, I have an inflammation in my eye and they have advised me not to expose myself too much to light; I want to be ready from tomorrow until Sunday. We'll see what updates the other teams bring, usually they bring updates for the first European Grand Prix and we'll do the same. I have the support of the team and my bosses; I'm happy; it's important to be happy with your work".
Fernando Alonso also defends the Monza circuit in response to Bernie Ecclestone's recent comments about the possibility of cancelling the Italian Grand Prix in future years.
"It's one of the best races, there's a fantastic podium and it's Ferrari's home: it's very important, just like the German Grand Prix, which unfortunately is no longer there. Who knows what will happen".
Nico Rosberg agrees:
"Monza is a legendary circuit, very important for the history of F1. I hope to continue racing there in front of fantastic fans".
The Mercedes driver remains concerned about Ferrari's growth.
"They have improved a lot, everything is possible for them. We have to be careful, even if we are convinced that we are stronger and can do everything to stay ahead. I want to have a good weekend and win the race".
The first European Grand Prix gives Formula 1 a chance to start from scratch. Lewis Hamilton is convinced of this and is ready to dive into the second phase of the season.
"I am happy with the way the first races went, we were very solid. Now we are in the first race after the break and there is a great balance. We need to recharge our batteries and focus on winning. I am trying to excel as always".
Asked about a possible move to Ferrari, Hamilton joked:
"It's like asking a brunette if she likes blondes. I don't have a preference, although all my relationships so far have been with brunettes".

Finally, Renault, who supply engines to Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, will provide an advanced version of their engine for this race. Honda, who support McLaren, will also be providing a more advanced engine for this race. This is in addition to ExxonMobil supplying a new type of fuel. Nico Rosberg was fastest on Friday morning, 0.07 seconds ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Rosberg drew the attention of the stewards when he failed to stay to the left of the bollard at the entrance to the pit lane on his return to the track after one of his runs. Mercedes lived up to expectations, lapping almost a second quicker than the next fastest cars, the two Ferraris. Three test drivers took part in the session: Jolyon Palmer replaced Romain Grosjean in one of the Lotus cars, as he did in the previous two races; Raffaele Marciello returned for Sauber after filling the role at the Malaysian Grand Prix; and Susie Wolff made her 2015 debut for Williams, finishing eight-tenths of a second behind regular driver Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the second session on Friday afternoon. Track temperatures soared by more than 20C to near 50C by the end of the session. The extreme heat was particularly hard on the tyres, with many drivers complaining of a lack of grip on the track. Sebastian Vettel split the two Mercedes to finish second fastest, four-tenths of a second slower than Hamilton, with Rosberg a further three-tenths behind. Daniel Ricciardo once again struggled with his engine, which had to be changed mid-session, leaving him with just ten minutes to run. McLaren have yet to score points in 2015, but with Jenson Button seventh and Fernando Alonso eleventh, they were closer to the points than in previous races. Romain Grosjean suffered technical problems in his Lotus, which ended with the engine cover of his car shattering on the start-finish straight, prompting a red flag. Mercedes extends its lead, Ferrari holds on and McLaren is reborn. Friday at Montmeló tells the story of a Formula One that, on its return to Europe, has maintained the same balance as at the start of the season. The fastest was still Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes, 0.5 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel. More than the fast lap, it was the race pace of the Mercedes that impressed, and that is not good news for Ferrari, who had managed to recover at exactly the pace of the race. Nico Rosberg in trouble: seven tenths behind Hamilton, not even the worst Massa times of the Alonso era. Disappointed, or something like that, Vettel said:
"The car slipped too much. You can't judge the new things on the track after a day like this. Conditions will improve".
James Allison, a 47-year-old Englishman, Ferrari's Technical Director, is the man behind the relaunch, with full authority over technical management. The man of tyre economy, of gentle aerodynamics, of overtaking. The son of an RAF commander, he is married with three children.
"I don't read Shakespeare, but my second name is Shakespeare. Maybe that was where the confusion started. But it's true that books keep me company in the evenings. There is an aerodynamics of the body and an aerodynamics of the mind. Each nourishes in its own way. My father took part in NATO missions in Kosovo. His hobby was restoring cars and old aeroplanes. My mother was a teacher. My parents were very important. They prevented us from watching television until we were seventeen. They wanted us to read and talk at the table. Above all, they encouraged us to expand our vocabulary, to express ourselves creatively. Not just black and white, but shades of grey. Tones and half-tones. And lots of dialogue".
Here is the translation of the text provided:
"So Shakespeare is involved. But I fall asleep with science fiction novels, not The Tempest. At the moment I'm reading Heretics by Dune. And as a boy I played rugby, hockey, cricket. I did sports, I didn't watch them. I was born in Lincolnshire, a rural county, Mrs Thatcher's county, but my father was transferred every two years. I saw my first Formula One race late one Sunday and I immediately liked Nigel Mansell. I also had a passion for aeroplanes; I wanted to live up to my dad, so I took the medical exams. And that's when they told me".

Was he colour-blind?
"Yes. I had never noticed. Flying remained an illusion. I was good at maths and science. So I enrolled at Cambridge University to study aerospace engineering. I didn't think I'd end up in F1, but in '91 I ended up at Benetton and in 2000 at Ferrari. I arrived in Maranello with the whole family, my wife Rebecca and children Emily, Matthew and Jonathan. In Italy, I rediscovered the value of being together; I managed to be a father who wasn't in a hurry, but who was able to listen. In Castelvetro, nobody spoke English; it was a great adventure for us and it cemented us as a family. My wife did the rest, helping me with the Italian. She's an opera singer, a mezzo-soprano, and she knew the language".
But in 2005 you left.
"It was a personal decision, not a technical one. My eldest daughter had to go to high school at the age of eleven; this choice would determine her future".
And you returned to Ferrari with Montezemolo and Mattiacci.
"Yes, in 2013. And I stayed even after the change of management. And now, don't ask me what I've invented that's good compared to before. My job is to make sure that the two areas, chassis and engine, work in synergy. Formula 1 cars are precision watches, but all the mechanisms have to work at the same time and the hands have to move in the same direction".
Are you saying that there were opposing forces at Ferrari?
"No. But there was a lot of imbalance, a useless and costly waste of energy. Ferrari was in a vicious circle; the car was wrong, had monstrous handicaps, and yet everyone insisted on it, even working at night, trying to find a short-term solution to the obvious inefficiency. But when you're in a negative spiral, what do you do?"
You leave.
"Well, obviously we couldn't. But the thing to do was not to insist on making a car that didn't work, to transfer the forces that were there and of excellent quality to another project. To try and rationalise the time without exhausting ourselves, without committing ourselves to a losing hypothesis. We did not want to declare ourselves defeated, and working quickly is even worse. Nothing is born overnight, but everything can die. In the end, Ferrari got too distracted trying to solve the problem. There were skills and abilities, but we had to change the field, rekindle them, set them in motion and make them move in the same direction. Those long evenings spent as a boy with the family, telling stories and examining them, ultimately served me well".
But you didn't convince Alonso.
"No, I didn't succeed either. I explained to him that things were changing, that the new car was working, that the gap had narrowed, that he still had a chance, that staying with us made sense and that he had a future. But he was too desperate and disillusioned. I was the tenth person to have that conversation with him, he had heard it for years, he no longer believed in a honeymoon. You have to understand him a little. All drivers want to win".

Mercedes are still ahead.
"Yes, they have more power. The gap has narrowed, but it's still there. But we're working on it, the time for complaining and tearing our hair out is over. We have to optimise our resources and make better use of the mechanics. We are not only good at quality, we are also aggressive".
He drives an electric car.
"Absolutely not. In England, with a BMW. And in Italy, I keep in shape with my bicycle. My room with a view: a hundred kilometres of the Apennines every year. I pedal, I pedal".
The third session, on Saturday morning, shows that Mercedes' advantage on the softer medium tyres is less significant than on the hard compound, allowing Vettel to lap within two tenths of a second of the fastest Rosberg. Hamilton spun in turn three, putting his session in jeopardy. He finished third fastest, two tenths down on his team-mate. Kimi Räikkönen, fifth fastest, is once again unhappy with the set-up of his car, as he can be heard telling his team on the radio:
"Excellent. How can we be on the wrong set-up?"
A few hours later, during the first session (Q1), Mercedes can go into the next part of the session without having to use the softer and faster tyre compound. The same goes for Sebastian Vettel, while his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen is once again unhappy with his set-up and records his time on the softer medium tyres. McLaren's upward trend continues as both cars make it into Q2, the first time the team has done so in 2015. The Manor Marussia drivers take their usual place at the back of the grid, with Will Stevens in 19th, almost three seconds off the time of the next slowest car. Both Force India cars and Marcus Ericsson's Sauber also fail to make it into Q2. In the second part of qualifying, the two Mercedes drivers and Valtteri Bottas will only do one timed run, which will be enough to get them through to Q3. Felipe Nasr's second Sauber is eliminated, as are both McLarens and both Lotus cars, leaving the last five rows of the grid to be filled by team mates. For the final qualifying session, the top ten drivers have twelve minutes to set their times. Nico Rosberg takes provisional pole on his first outing, a quarter of a second ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Unlike their team-mates, both Felipe Massa in the Williams and Kimi Raikkonen do not have an extra set of fresh tyres, meaning they will be overtaken by the fast Toro Rosso drivers, who start from the third row. Neither Rosberg nor Hamilton were able to improve their times in the second session. For the first time in 2015, it is not Hamilton who starts the race from the front of the grid, as Rosberg takes the 16th pole of his career. Nico Rosberg will start the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position at the Montmelo circuit in Barcelona. With a time of 1'24'948, the German Mercedes driver beat his team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.267 seconds. Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari was third, 0.777 seconds behind Rosberg. It was Rosberg's first pole of the season and the 16th of his career. He hadn't topped qualifying since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of the previous season.
"I needed this pole, maybe it would have been better if it had come earlier. But it shows that today we are going in the right direction to win the race tomorrow".
Lewis Hamilton acknowledged Rosberg's performance:

"I didn't have the pace today. Nico did a great job and I didn't have the balance I prefer. I did my best and there's still a lot at stake tomorrow".
Sebastian Vettel commented:
"Disappointment is the wrong word, it's better to say it's good to confirm that we're right behind them. Obviously we would have liked to be closer. We'll have to have a good race tomorrow. They are very fast, confirming what they did during the winter. We hope to be closer".
Kimi Raikkonen, on the other hand, is disappointed:
"I struggled; for some reason I had little grip. Q2 was a bit better than Q3. It was a very difficult weekend; we hope to do something good in the race. Obviously it will be a lot more difficult than the last two races. That's how it was, let's see what happens".
Back in Europe after their unexpected success in Asia, Ferrari are suddenly back to reality. Sebastian Vettel admits:
"The gap to Mercedes has increased instead of decreasing".
Now it remains to be seen what will happen in the race, where pace and the ability to manage the tyres - a new aspect this season - could play a key role and possibly close the gap to the two Mercedes. Whatever the final result, after what we've seen over the past two days in Spain, it's worth taking a moment to analyse the data from the track. Mercedes is 0.8 seconds ahead of the best of the two Ferraris. That's about the same gap as in Shanghai. In Barcelona, however, Ferrari presented the first significant package of new parts, especially aerodynamic ones, with high expectations. Mercedes did the same, but the difference is that Mercedes' innovations worked perfectly, while Ferrari's did not. Only one of the two Ferrari drivers, Vettel, decided to take the risk and try the new components in qualifying. In the end, the German was right, but he still finished well behind Nico Rosberg. Things went much worse for Kimi Raikkonen. Confused by the track temperature, he did not understand what had happened in the three free practice sessions and decided not to take any risks by qualifying with the non-updated version of the SF15-T, which did not match the competition. The whole team was not up to scratch either; first they burned a tyre in a tyre blanket, forcing him to finish qualifying with worn tyres, and then they leaked a bizarre piece of information - initially confirmed by a useless no-comment official statement - that the decision to give Raikkonen the old car was the result of a coin toss. Much later, Kimi Raikkonen himself cleared up the misunderstanding:
"It was my decision. I shared it with the team".
A perfectly rational and understandable decision - if a driver isn't sure about the car, it's better not to take any risks - which speaks volumes about how aggressive and therefore risky the development strategy of this 2015 Ferrari format is. One day too hot, too cold or too windy (as was the case on Friday) is enough to upset plans and dreams of glory. Meanwhile, Williams are making a partial recovery (Bottas finished 0.3 seconds behind Vettel, while Massa struggled), Red Bull have blown their fourth engine in five races and are now approaching the first grid penalty (ten positions) for those who blow five engines, and McLaren are slowly making progress in all senses: although they are three seconds behind Mercedes, Alonso and Button have closed in on Sauber and Force India and are looking to score their first points of the championship. Proudly, Fernando Alonso's entourage says:

"If we continue like this, we'll have some satisfaction at the end of the year".
On Sunday 10th May 2015, at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton did not get off to a good start and had to give up second place to Sebastian Vettel, while also coming under pressure from Valtteri Bottas. Nico Rosberg remains at the front, while the rest of the field gets through the first few corners without incident. Kimi Raikkonen has a good first lap and moves up to fifth. The Toro Rosso drivers are unable to capitalise on their good qualifying performances and continue to drop down the order. As Rosberg opened up a lead, Hamilton told his team that it was impossible to overtake Vettel on the track. Mercedes switched him to a three-stop strategy, starting on lap 14, but his first stop was marred by a problem with a wheel nut and he was unable to get ahead of Rosberg, who made an easy pit stop two laps later. In the following laps, Hamilton tried to overtake Vettel on the track, but to no avail. Unlike the front runners, Kimi Räikkönen does not take the medium tyres for his middle stint, opting instead for the hard compound, meaning he will be a force to be reckoned with towards the end of the race. A mid-field battle on the opening laps saw the two Lotus cars touching, damaging Pastor Maldonado's rear wing. When he came into the pits for his first stop, the entire right side of the wing was torn off, forcing him to retire on lap 47. Fernando Alonso was the first to retire from the race when his brake failed due to a torn off visor in his rear brake. Coming into the pit lane on lap 28, he overshot his pit box, hit a mechanic and was unable to continue. Red Bull, who have had a difficult weekend qualifying behind their sister team Toro Rosso, make up the lost ground and move up the field to finish seventh and tenth respectively. At the front, Hamilton makes the most of his three-stop strategy, consistently setting the fastest laps. On lap 46, Rosberg makes his second and final pit stop, emerging just a few seconds ahead of Hamilton, who quickly passes him to take the lead. Hamilton came in for his final stop on lap 51 and easily maintained second place ahead of Vettel's Ferrari.
He then tried to close the gap to Rosberg at the front, but a 19-second advantage proved insurmountable with 14 laps to go. Räikkönen closed in on Valtteri Bottas and tried to overtake him in the final laps of the race, but was unable to do so and had to settle for fifth, lamenting his poor qualifying performance. At the end of the race, Nico Rosberg crossed the line to take his first victory of the season and the ninth of his career. Ferrari awakes from its comeback dream to find that reality is still a nightmare. After a year of controversy, bloodshed and insults, after the dismissal of two team principals and half a dozen engineers, after the public ridicule of the old president and the ignominious expulsion of the world's best driver, after all this, the Mercedes were still little more than a mirage at the end of the straight, a minute away. A delay more reminiscent of a train than a car. From here, from this Spanish afternoon, from this predictable, sad and lonely podium, taken in Barcelona more for lack of competition than merit, the victory in Sepang is little more than a golden bracket in a season that is now becoming quite complicated. After a week of talking about the great evolutionary step that Ferrari would be taking to Montmelo, the track test ended with the car taking a step backwards while Mercedes and Williams moved forward, creating what is undoubtedly the first difficult moment of the Marchionne-Arrivabene-Vettel era. On the optimistic side, given the circumstances of this season, it's nothing short of a miracle that this has happened at the fifth race and not much earlier. On the other hand, if you want to be pessimistic, you could say that it looks like the beginning of a negative streak. But Maurizio Arrivabene is the type of person who has no desire to be optimistic or pessimistic, only realistic and pragmatic.
"For God's sake, let's not start with the usual mess. Let's not place blame or make excuses. The blame for everything that happens is mine alone; I am here to take responsibility and let the team work in peace".
A way of saying that it's not the time for trials, but for work:
"This race suggests a good dose of humility to everyone, starting with me. Now we are fortunate enough to have a test session at this circuit and we will use it to try and understand what happened".

To understand, especially if the result is the result of an idiosyncrasy of the SF15-T towards the Montmelo circuit, as objectively not suspected after the winter tests, or problems mainly related to the famous development package. In the first case, it would be a rather significant problem. The Barcelona circuit has always been considered one of the truest in the circus. There is a statistic that explains this very well: in the last five years, four times the result of the first Ferrari driver in the Spanish Grand Prix was also the team's final result in the World Championship. In the second case, the situation would be less serious:
"Assuming we have the honesty to review all the work we have done and be ready to admit that we have made some mistakes and go back. The impression is that the innovations that have been brought here have almost all worked, with plenty of room for improvement".
Almost all, though.
"Something hasn't worked in my opinion. But we can only be more precise in the coming days".
It is clear that there is not much time to understand and intervene. In a month's time, Monaco and Montreal will be on the agenda, two circuits that will not be a walk in the park after what happened here in Spain, and in two races Mercedes could be out of sight. Sebastian Vettel admits:
"Obviously we tried to hold on; we had an excellent start, managed to overtake Lewis and then did the right thing by copying his decision at the first pit stop. Then they decided to do three stops; they were too fast and we couldn't keep up, but third was the best result possible. The car was great and it's great to see all the Ferrari fans, so I'm very happy".
And as for the strategy of containing Lewis Hamilton, the German driver admits:
"We could have tried, but of course it's never easy with all this traffic. But these are difficulties that happen to everyone. You're never happy when they happen to you, but they were faster. I knew, to be honest, that it would be difficult to stay behind him because they were clearly faster, as we saw at the end of the race. We were lucky at the first pit stop when Lewis had a problem, so we managed to stay in front. We reacted well and did everything we could. They decided to pit very quickly to go to a three-stop strategy, but the best chance for us was to stay out and that's what we did. However, we were unlucky to get stuck in traffic after the second stop and lost a few seconds that would probably have been enough to stay in front. In any case, at the speed they were going, he would have passed me anyway. We have to be fair and say that they deserved a one-two today, congratulations to both of them, but I am confident that we will be closer again, and very soon. Hopefully in two weeks time the situation will be different, we have done an excellent job in terms of performance, although it wasn't visible here, but I am confident that we will be able to step up for the next races, so we are looking forward to it".
In short, here in Barcelona, Ferrari were expected to make the decisive move. Instead, the Mercedes delivered the coup de grâce. Sixty-six terrifying laps took the story back to a year ago. Montmelo was like a giant time machine. The magic button that the conspiracy theorists in the paddock have been talking about since the early days of this 2015 World Championship does exist. Perhaps not in the physical form of a button capable of significantly increasing the performance of the Anglo-German team's engine, but certainly as a system that allows the cars to sparkle from race to race with an immense potential of horsepower that is perhaps still unknown today. The mirage disappeared in Barcelona amidst the jubilation of Nico Rosberg, who temporarily overcame his justifiable inferiority complex, and the competitive fury of Lewis Hamilton, the leader of the championship.

The stage is all about them and their duel, both real and artificial. Lewis Hamilton chose to play the role of the disappointed:
"Today I only minimised the damage".
He explained that the team had asked him to slow down in the final laps in order to secure second place.
"It is never nice for a rider to hear things like that. I'm here to race, not to finish second, so I ignored everything I was told. I pushed the car to the limit, but when I realised that with 7 laps to go and a recovery of 7 tenths per lap I had to make up 13 seconds, I gave up. It's not something you want to hear and I'm going to talk to the team to make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't think we would have had reliability problems if we had both pushed to the limit, but this kind of behaviour puts the cars at risk. I know I can react directly in Monte Carlo and that's what I want to do. I haven't won in Monaco for a long time and this is my third attempt with this team on the Principality's circuit. They say the third time's the charm".
As for the start, the British driver admits:
"My start was terrible; it's been a long time since I've started so badly. I did my best to recover, I was even fourth at the start and I was lucky to get back to third. This track doesn't favour overtaking, in fact it's probably the worst from that point of view, because it's really impossible to overtake, even if you're close to your opponent. Even with the DRS on, it's really difficult. I tried to do what I could behind Sebastian. Despite getting closer, I lost time on my first pit stop and had to start again. Towards the end, we switched to a three-stop strategy and managed to recover. I scored some good points for myself and the team, so in the end it wasn't too bad".
And finally, with a view to the drivers' championship, Hamilton said:
"Yes, there's still a long way to go; this was a tough weekend for me, so I'll take the second step of the podium. I am looking forward to Monte Carlo; it will be a very tough race".
Nico Rosberg's perspective seems more sensible:
"Everything was perfect today, it's a shame that Vettel didn't resist Lewis. For a moment I hoped he would, although it wouldn't have been good for the team".
Says the German driver, testing the patience of Niki Lauda. Fortunately for Nico, Lauda is in a good mood:
"The Ferrari finished 50 seconds behind us and that's a good sign for the future".
Says the non-executive chairman of Mercedes. According to the aforementioned theorists, he would be the one with the magic button. However, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff doesn't let his guard down, saying:

"The Ferrari is closer to us than the Red Bull was last year. The fight for the championship will certainly not be easy. We've learnt that if you're not ready (probably referring to what happened in Malaysia), the competition can bounce back quickly. So that's what we've been doing over the last few weeks: not looking left or right, but concentrating on our work to improve the car".
On Nico Rosberg's success, the Austrian manager said:
"We saw it last year. Nico started the race and the balance was in his favour. I think the same thing will happen this season. It's like we have two first places. Nico did a fantastic job, with a perfect race and impeccable strategy. Lewis had problems at the start, lost time at the pit stop and came out behind Vettel, so we decided to change the number of stops he made. Hamilton was incredible, overtaking Kimi and Bottas, and it's thanks to them that he finished second. In order for him to catch Seb, we compromised Rosberg's race a little bit by keeping him out there longer on worn tyres. When Hamilton came out after the final pit stop, he started to push, but the gap to the leader was too big, so we asked the guys to finish the race without stressing the cars. It's nice to finish with a one-two at a circuit like this, and especially with a good lead over Ferrari, which shows and confirms the hard work done by everyone at the factory to introduce new and important updates".