One of our favourite Grands Prix; the first European race of the season. A beautiful tourist city with the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya only 30 minutes away. Good restaurants, good museums, beaches and warm weather too.

Our group had a choice of three hotels to stay at to suit their budget. The Hilton Diagonal Mar near the beach and where some of the UK F1 teams stay, the Four Points by Sheraton nearer the harbour and the Hotel Amister in the heart of the city.

Our first evening provided a chance to meet some of our fellow travellers at our popular drinks reception. An ideal way to get to know each over, learn our way around the city and for those who are attending their first Grand Prix to better understand the way Formula 1 works, the Championship so far and any other questions. We sometimes test the knowledge of enthusiasts with a prize for the winner!

We were able to take advantage of the close proximity to the circuit  - we had a leisurely start and arrived in good time for Saturday’s qualifying.

It was business as usual in qualifying with the two Mercedes cars out in front, but this time, it was Lewis Hamilton who right at the end of the session blasted his way into pole position with a lap almost 0.3 seconds quicker than his team mate Nico Rosberg. But there was another star emerging when the newly promoted young driver Max Verstappen took third on the grid for Red Bull. Well placed if anything would happen to the Mercedes pair.

Race day soon arrived warm and sunny as we departed to the circuit for the 2pm start and 66 laps to go.

Away they all went but drama on the first lap! Nico Rosberg took the lead at the first corner with Lewis Hamilton pushing him hard, but at the next turn, Nico slowed with a technical problem and with Lewis charging, he had no option but the take to the grass spinning round and took out his team mate. The jury is still out on who's fault this was.

Daniel Riccardo then lead the field from Sebastian Vettel, but Ricciardo changing to a three stop strategy - which was then covered by Vettel - dropped them to 3rd and 4th.

This left 18 year old Max Verstappen in the lead with Kimi Raikkonen chasing hard, both on a two stop strategy, but unable to get quite close enough to make a pass.

Max drove a superb, mature race, never putting a wheel wrong and claimed victory on lap 66 to become the youngest ever driver to win a Grand Prix at 18 years and 227 days old.  Surely a future world champion in the making! Kimi came second, Sebastian third and Daniel Riccardo just held on to fourth despite being slowed towards the end with a puncture. The first non-Mercedes win of the year, and the end of Nico Rosberg’s winning streak.

Now and again we are lucky enough to witness an historic Grand Prix, one that begins to change the tide with new future world champions emerging. A while ago it was Lewis Hamilton, but do we now have an heir to his throne?

Let’s see what Max can do at Monaco in two weeks’ time. In Barcelona, the Red Bull was fast in the last sector, a clear indicator for the slower streets of Monaco.

Adrian and Peter