For the first time in almost two seasons, Lewis Hamilton has won in Formula 1.
The all-time leader in race wins scored number 106 and his first for Ferrari after a strategy call from the Scuderia got him ahead of both Mercedes drivers in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. He is the oldest Grand Prix winner at age 41 since Jack Brabham in 1970.
“We never gave up hope,” Hamilton said in the podium interviews. “The team just continued to lift me up, we made so many changes, so many improvements, and on top of that, I have the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for.
“[All of my wins] are something special int heir own way, but this one is something else. I always watched Ferrari have their success, on TV. As I was racing here, I’d always watch the screens and wonder what it would be like to win in their car. It’s come.”
It was a strategy race for much of the running. Hamilton and Max Verstappen were the only top team drivers to try and go for three-stop strategy, while everybody else went with a two-stop strategy.
It was already looking well for Hamilton, who had lowered the gap to nine seconds from Kimi Antonelli before both Mercedes pitted on lap 36.
Then, on lap 41, Fernando Alonso stopped on-track, right before turn 9.
This caused a virtual safety car. It allowed Hamilton to take a cheap pit stop that put him ahead of both George Russell and Antonelli with a five-lap tire age deficit. He was then able to pump out a 19 second lead on Russell to win.
Antonelli made a big more on Russell into turn 2 with five laps to go, but then, with three laps to go, the points leader’s engine blew up and caused another brief safety car.
Charles Leclerc also lost the hydraulics during this last VSC and had to retire from his sixth place running position.
Russell finished second and Lando Norris rounded out the podium in third. This was the first all-British podium in F1 since 1968.
Verstappen parlayed his optimal strategy to a fourth place finish, Oscar Piastri finished behind in fifth.
Isack Hadjar lost nine positions on the start, then spent the entire race driving back up to sixth, where he started at to begin with.
The Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto followed up Gasly’s podium last week with a seventh and eighth finish today respectively. Their midfield rivals, Racing Bulls, finished ninth and 10th, with Liam Lawson getting the edge on Arvid Lindblad.
Antonelli now leads the World Drivers Championship by 41 points over Hamilton, with a 50 point gap over Russell.
F1 Barcelona-Catalunya Results
In the World Constructors Championship, Mercedes has a 72 point gap on Ferrari.
Michael has watched NASCAR for over 25 years and has covered it on-and-off for 14.
In addition to Frontstretch he also writes sporadically for his own websites GrandPrixFocus.com and StockCarFocus.com.
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