Lewis Hamilton won his first race in nearly two years and his first for Ferrari as he ends Antonelli’s win streak in Barcelona.
It was a sensible start from the field as the opening lap saw no incidents between drivers. Russell had managed to fend off a possible attack from Hamilton after getting a better launch heading down to turn 1, before going on to quickly stretch his lead in the opening laps.
Further back, Hadjar had a woeful start in his Red Bull, bogging down as soon as the lights went out and falling from 6th to 14th by the end of the first lap.
Leclerc had a good start as he looked to recover from his crash in qualifying yesterday, having climbed up to 7th from 10th on the opening lap. He would take 6th place on lap 7, sweeping around the outside of turn 3 in what was a great overtake.
Pit stop action started very early in this race, which was unsurprising given that it looked like many were struggling for traction in the Barcelona heat. Hamilton, who started on soft tyres, came in at the end of lap 11, which then forced others around him to respond, including leader George Russell, who had started on the medium tyres.
Russell was worried that pitting as early as Hamilton did had exposed him to the threat of Antonelli, especially as he suspected that Hamilton pitting when he did would mean he was going for a three stop. Fortunately for Russell, Antonelli would only stay out for an extra couple of laps, and filter back out behind him and Hamilton.
There was plenty of tyre management in the middle portion of the race, due to the conditions at the track and the level of degradation the circuit’s sweeping corners cause. Hamilton had proven Russell’s theory that he was going for a three stop correct though, coming into the pits once again on lap 27.
Hamilton was flying on the new medium tyres that he was put onto, effectively undercutting Russell after just two laps, which could well have forced Russell into a two stop. However, Russell had bigger fish to fry in the short term, as Antonelli’s pace was very strong, and got himself within one second of the lead.
By lap 33, Antonelli was beginning to really attack Russell, and almost got a move done going into turn 1, but Russell was able to defend for the time being. The fighting would end almost as quickly as it started as well, as Antonelli was told to not slow each other down and hold the position for the time being.
Russell would pit for a second time at the end of lap 36, which would mean that it would have to be a very long final stint should they go for a two stop strategy, with just over half of the race having been completed at that time. Antonelli would pit just one lap later, filtering out just ahead of Norris, who had come in two laps earlier and benefitted with warmed up tyres.
A Virtual Safety Car came out on lap 41 after Alonso would have to park his Aston Martin on the inside of turn 9, which gave Hamilton a free stop from the lead of the race, allowing him to stay in first place, even if it was an earlier stop than Ferrari would’ve hoped.
When green flag running resumed, Hamilton demonstrated some great pace to begin pulling away from both Mercedes cars behind, making the gap more than 6 seconds to 2nd place by the end of lap 48, and just as well for him as a possible investigation was looming over his head due to a yellow flag infringement earlier in the race.
That yellow flag infringement would eventually be cleared, but the 7 time world champion would continue to surge ahead, increasing the gap to 10 seconds by lap 54.
While the fight for the win had seemingly slipped out of the hands of Mercedes, the inter-team battle for 2nd place raged on, with Antonelli staying hot on the heels of Russell for much of the closing stages of the race.
Antonelli would finally get close enough to make a move coming into lap 61, and despite defending incredibly hard, Russell would lose 2nd place to Antonelli. Russell wouldn’t have to wait too long to regain 2nd place though, as Antonelli’s engine would die just one lap later, being forced to retire from the race and bring out another Virtual Safety Car.
There would be another retirement just moments later, as Leclerc would lose power steering in his Ferrari, which would force him into the pit lane.
Only two more laps were left after the VSC ended, which were calmly taken by Hamilton as he went on his way to win his first grand prix for Ferrari, and his first win in nearly two years. He also became the first win for a driver over 40 years old since the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, which was won by Nigel Mansell.
Hamilton would be joined on the podium by Russell and Norris, making it the first time that there was an all British podium since the 1968 US Grand Prix.
The result means that Antonelli still leads Hamilton in the World Drivers’ Championship, but the 25 point swing means the gap is now down to 41 points.
The next race is the Austrian Grand Prix, which will take place on Sunday, June 28.
