Spanish F1 Grand Prix 2015 Results: Winner, Standings, Highlights and Reaction

Nico Rosberg reigned supreme at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, as he put together a stunning performance to top the podium ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel—as Sky Sports News HQ revealed:

Hamilton surrendered pole position for the first time this season to Rosberg, who took full advantage by opening up a one-second lead on Vettel and two ahead of the Englishman after Lap 1.

It wasn’t the ideal start for the world champion, whose wheelspin prevented him from giving Vettel a run for his money off the line, and that much proved costly as the race went on.

Paul Gilham/Getty Images

The job was simple for Hamilton: He had to pass Vettel and close the gap on Rosberg. However, passing him was deemed impossible over the team radio, as the Daily Mail’s Phil Duncan revealed:

The gap kept on increasing between Rosberg and the field, with a six-second lead established after 10 laps.

Things got worse when Hamilton’s first pit of the day was a slow one, setting him back a couple of seconds and further increasing Rosberg’s lead.

The German was quite simply coasting; he was a long way in front and not looking like he could be caught if the race went on all day. Sky Sports F1 reflected on how the real battle was for second place:

Vettel was slowing down, though. It seemed he had a problem, so when the Ferrari man pitted, Hamilton went in, too, and came out in front of his rival.

Even so, he remained over 20 seconds behind Rosberg, who happily cruised to victory.

Hamilton posted consistently quicker lap times and closed the gap in the latter stages, but such was the German’s lead that his efforts were in vain. Plus, Mercedes told Hamilton to hang back and take second place, per Formula 1:

Naturally, that spurred him on to have a real go, but the damage that the start did to Hamilton simply wasn’t repairable.

Take nothing away from Rosberg, though, as the way he drove was impeccable throughout. People have often criticised the German for not being able to manage from the front, but Sunday’s victory was a lesson in how it’s done.

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Here’s a look at the full results from a superb race:

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:41:12.555
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:41:30.066
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:41:57.897
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:42:11.772
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:42:12.557
6	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:42:33.869
7	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	Lapped
8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Lapped
9	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	Lapped
10	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	Lapped
11	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	Lapped
12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Lapped
13	Sergio Perez	Force India	Lapped
14	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Lapped
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Lapped
16	Jenson Button	McLaren	Lapped
17	Will Stevens	Manor	Lapped
18	Roberto Merhi	Manor	Lapped
R	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	Retired (44)
R	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Retired (25)

Elsewhere, Fernando Alonso was forced to retire with break issues after failing to stop properly in the pits, as McLaren revealed:

Luckily, no one was hurt in the process. McLaren teammate Jenson Button had an afternoon to forget, too, as he crossed the line in 16th place.

Valtteri Bottas performed brilliantly to take fifth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, while Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo came in seventh.

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

The day belonged to Rosberg, though, as he became the ninth different winner of the Spanish Grand Prix in the last nine years, per Ben Edwards of BBC Sport: "Nico Rosberg becomes the ninth different winner in Barcelona in the last nine years. Amazing. But more importantly it's his first win of the season."

The German understandably looked elated after the race, as F1 revealed:

The 25 points put Rosberg within 20 of Hamilton at the top of the F1 standings, as we see below:

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	111
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	91
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	80
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	52
5	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	42
6	Felipe Massa	Williams	39
7	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	25
8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	16
9	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	14
10	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	8
11	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	6
12	Nico Hulkenburg	Force India	6
13	Sergio Perez	Force India	5
14	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	5
15	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	5
16	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	0
17	Jenson Button	McLaren	0
18	Roberto Merhi	Manor	0
19	Will Stevens	Manor	0
20	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	0
21	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren	0

Formula One heads to the south of France for the Monaco Grand Prix next time around, where Rosberg will be looking to close the gap on his teammate even further.

He won last year’s race in convincing fashion over Hamilton, with a nine-second victory, and based on his form in Barcelona, a repeat performance is well within the realm of possibility.