Nico Rosberg won the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona to cut his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton's lead in the world championship to 20 points.

It was Rosberg’s first victory since Brazil in November and it breathes fresh life into a title race that was in danger of becoming tiresome after Hamilton had won three of the first four races to open up a 27-point lead.

It was not Hamilton’s weekend. On Saturday, when he finished second to Rosberg in qualifying, he complained about the balance of his car and he sounded tetchy throughout the 66-lap race.

Rosberg won by 17.5 seconds after making two pit-stops to Hamilton's three. But the world champion's rubber was compromised by his pursuit of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and some tardy pit stops further damaged his cause, though he did eventually take second.

Vettel was third, and he was followed by Valtteri Bottas of Williams, Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari and Felipe Massa, Bottas’s team-mate.

Rosberg got off to a strong start from pole but Hamilton made a sluggish getaway and was immediately passed by Vettel and almost by Bottas.

So one of Hamilton’s best chances of getting into the lead – on the long, 800-yard stretch to the first corner – was already gone. It was merely the start of a difficult afternoon.

Stretched his legs

Rosberg, making the most of his first pole since the end of last season, stretched his legs at the front and by the end of the fifth lap his lead over Vettel was already more than three seconds.

On lap nine Mercedes informed Hamilton: “We’re thinking of Plan B,” suggesting a three-stop strategy. But when he did come in, at the end of lap 13, it was a poor stop, taking 5.3 seconds.

Vettel then came in and his new rubber took only 2.3 seconds to fit, a gain of three seconds, and he retained his advantage. It was a crucial moment.

To make an already grumpy-sounding Hamilton’s mood even worse Rosberg then entered the pits for a tyre change which took only 2.85 seconds.

Everything appeared to be going against the British driver. His team told him: “You will have to pass Vettel on track.”

Hamilton replied: “I can assure you that’s pretty much impossible. Find another solution.”

Overtaking is difficult

The trouble was that on this track, even when a car is within DRS range, overtaking is difficult, which probably explains whey eight of the last 10 pole winners have gone on to take the race.

When Mercedes next talked to Hamilton he replied, testily: “Don’t talk to me through corners.” Which doesn’t leave a lot of time for conversations.

Hamilton came in again after 32 laps and was told he could push hard, indicating that he would come in again before the end of the race.

Rosberg came in for his second stop on lap 45 (2.85 seconds) allowing Hamilton to take the lead for the first time. But it wasn’t much consolation for him, and Rosberg resumed command once Hamilton stopped for the third time.

It was a deeply frustrating day for McLaren, particularly as three months ago they targeted this race to take a step forward with the help of their upgrades. Jenson Button started in 14th place but quickly slipped back to 18th because of problems with his car while Fernando Alonso retired with brake problems after knocking over a jack in the pits.

He said: “It was scary. I had no brakes for the whole in-lap, and for the pit stop it was even less. I’m disappointed for the retirement but the only thing we can do now is investigate and come back stronger for Monaco.

“We are a long way off and we need to make double steps because everyone else is improving.

“This is a very challenging project, but I’m happy that we’re recovering well and we need to keep it up.”

It was difficult day for the jack-men. When Romain Grosjean took his Lotus into the pits he overshot his marks and sent a member of his team tumbling to the ground.

Guardian Service