Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton wins first GP for Ferrari as Kimi Antonelli retires
For a long time it looked like the race was going one of the Mercedes drivers’ way, with Russell taking pole position ahead of Hamilton and Antonelli at the start, and the two raced in that order for almost the first half of the race.
The different strategies of the three cars became apparent when Hamilton pitted on lap 11 to change his soft tyres.
Russell and Antonelli had started on mid-carriage but Mercedes opted to bring them in after Hamilton to maintain track position, although the team’s radio communications made it clear they knew they were pursuing a different strategy.
When Hamilton pitted for the second time on lap 27, Antonelli began to pressure Russell for the lead, closing in on his teammate and attempting to pass into Turn One several times.
But the two drivers were warned not to waste too much time fighting in the context of their fight with Hamilton.
Russell stopped for the last time on lap 36, and one lap later Antonelli handed the lead to Hamilton, who still had to make a pit stop.
Hamilton’s job initially looked to be to lose as little time as possible to the Mercedes, who were advancing on their fresh tyres, before pitting and falling to third place and trying to catch them again.
However, Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin broke down at Turn Nine on lap 40, leading to the deployment of a VSC to recover the car safely.
In VSC, cars must slow down and keep their distance, but because they are moving slower this means the pit stop takes relatively less time than in race conditions.
Hamilton had a 14-second lead, which was enough to stop under the VSC and still come out ahead.
This put him in a strong position at the front and his tires were eight laps fresher. Now only one problem could cost it victory and the car raced all the way like clockwork for Ferrari’s first victory since Mexico 2024.
There were two small ironies. Hamilton’s win was Ferrari’s first in Spain since 2013; The man who gave this victory was Alonso, whose retirement caused VSC to hand the next victory to its former arch-rival.
Post-race interviews were conducted by Hamilton’s former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg; He had also had a fractious relationship while on the same team, and it had been 10 years since the two crashed into each other on the first lap of this race while competing for the championship.
