Hamilton cruises to historic first victory with Ferrari in Barcelona, late drama sees Antonelli and Leclerc among retirements
- Meghana Sree
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
Lewis Hamilton secured a long-awaited first victory with Ferrari at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, becoming the oldest driver to win a Grand Prix since Jack Brabham in 1970 and taking a historic 106th victory since his last Grand Prix win in Belgium 2024.
A race-defining Virtual Safety Car (VSC) from home hero Fernando Alonso’s stoppage on track allowed Hamilton to complete the final of his three stops for the day, Ferrari nailing the strategy over Mercedes who were left to settle for second with Russell.
The drama didn't stop there, however, as a second VSC was brought out after Kimi Antonelli stopped on track while running in second after a scrap with George Russell and damaging his front wing while also losing power, as Charles Leclerc retired separately during the same lap after a loss of power as well.
Here’s how a thrilling, strategy-fought Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix unfolded, as Hamilton followed the footsteps of Michael Schumacher to secure his first Ferrari victory at the Spanish venue.
Race Report
As the tyre selections were revealed, the grid’s choices were immediately varied. George Russell on pole was on mediums, as was Kimi Antonelli in third, while Lewis Hamilton had opted for the grippier soft tyres.
With 21 cars on the grid, home favourite Fernando Alonso starting in the pits, Russell held on to the lead but Hamilton soon began to attack the lead Mercedes.
Meanwhile, Leclerc had cleared three cars to take seventh, as Isack Hadjar tumbled down to 14th after a poor start and wheel spin.
More moves were being made, Hülkenberg and Arvid Lindblad swapping passes and ultimately settling into ninth and 10th respectively by Lap 5. At the sharp end of the field, Russell was ahead of Hamilton by nearly three seconds.
On Lap 6, Lanco Stroll was called into the pits to retire after a gearbox problem.
Back on track, Hadjar was clawing back up the field, picking off Carlos Sainz and the Alpine pair with clean moves around the outside.
Another driver turning it up with the overtakes was Leclerc, who made a clean move on Oscar Piastri down to Turn 1 to take sixth. Next up for the Ferrari driver to clear was his old rival, Max Verstappen.
On Lap 12, Hamilton became the first of the top runners to pit, gunning for a three stop as Russell accurately noted. The Briton reacted quickly to Ferrari’s stop, followed by Verstappen who also peeled into the pits.
After this quick round of stops, Mercedes managed to keep Russell ahead of Hamilton in sixth, while Norris became the latest driver to pit on Lap 14. Antonelli, Leclerc and Piastri remained the drivers who hadn’t swapped tyres yet, occupying the top three.
The following lap, Antonelli and Piastri blinked, having to react to Norris’ stop and crucially staying ahead. Meanwhile, Leclerc and his camp were debating whether to stop or not, to which Leclerc responded: “We don't care about Piastri”.
Losing 2.6 seconds after delaying his stop, Leclerc was the last of the top teams to take his stop, managing to cover off Piastri and rejoining in sixth.
Meanwhile, home favourite Alonso made an overtake on Valtteri Bottas down at Turn 1, much to the crowd’s delight. The Cadillac driver’s afternoon unravelled when he was called back into the pits to retire.
Following the first round of stops, the top 10 was occupied by Russell, Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri, Lindblad, Hadjar and Lawson.
On Lap 20, Franco Colapinto received team orders to switch positions with Pierre Gasly, the two in 12th and 13th.
Another move from Hadjar saw him clear junior team driver Lindblad for eighth, the rookie yet to stop and still running on 22-lap old mediums.
As the race settled into a lull, both Williams drivers were noted for starting procedure infringements.
Meanwhile, a battle was brewing between Lawson, Hülkenberg and Gasly for the last of the points, the Audi driver looking competitive while Lawson was struggling but continuing to defend his position.
As Russell caught up to the backmarkers, he radioed over to his team complaining of a weak and underbalanced front. The contender for the win behind him, Hamilton, took his second stop of the day on Lap 28, taking on the medium compound and rejoining the track in seventh after a 2.6-second stop.
The Ferrari driver immediately pumped in an electric outlap, while Mercedes continued to keep Russell out. Meanwhile, the other Mercedes of Antonelli was warned with a black and white flag for track limits.
This was now truly a strategic clash between Russell and Hamilton, the Ferrari driver bringing the gap down to just 15 seconds and immediately clearing Leclerc.
Further ahead, the Mercedes pair were trading blows, as Hamilton continued to gain on them on the fresher tyres, Hamilton’s race engineer Carlo Santi encouraging him, saying: “You are catching them really well”.
Meanwhile it was heartbreak for Hülkenberg who became the third retirement on a day where points were clearly on the table after his first Q3 appearance of the year.
On Lap 33, Norris was called into the pits followed by Russell whose tyres were falling off relative to his rivals. Russell completed his high-pressure stop and rejoined in fourth, covering off Norris.
Antonelli quickly followed on Lap 37, managing to cover off Norris by a hair’s breadth. Leclerc took his second stop on Lap 40, while Albon became the fourth retirement of the day.
The defining moment of the race came on Lap 41, as home hero Alonso found himself parked up at Turn 9, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC).
Hamilton took a cheap stop under the VSC, and as we returned to green flag conditions, he was 2.9 seconds ahead of second-placed Russell on fresher tyres.
With 20 laps to go, Hamilton was absolutely flying out front, building a five second lead. Potential trouble in paradise struck as he was noted for a yellow flag infringement, but with the gap he was building, it was quickly becoming evident that he would be able to nullify any probable penalty.
By Lap 48, Hamilton had built a seven-second gap, when he received the relief that the infringement would not be investigated further. As the laps ticked down, Hamilton cruised off into the distance as the Mercedes pair grew closer together on track.
However, Antonelli’s track limits were being closely watched by the McLaren team who were no doubt hoping for a penalty for the Italian driver to promote Norris in fourth to the podium.
Behind the top four of Hamilton, Russell, Antonelli and Norris, the top 10 was currently being held by Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri, Hadjar, Gasly and Colapinto.
With 10 laps to go, Hamilton continued to speed off into the distance, now having a 11-second gap over Russell.
Late drama descended upon the track as after a tight tussle between Russell and Antonelli resulted in a damaged front-wing for the Italian teenager, bringing out a late VSC. The Italian teenager recorded his first ever retirement this year as he came to a halt on the track, while separately, Leclerc also began to tumble down the order and was called back to the pits to finish his race early.
As the race commenced, Hamilton continued to stay in the lead by nearly 19 seconds, and reached the chequered flag to record a historic first victory with in red, becoming the first non-Mercedes win of the year.
Russell and Norris followed to complete an all-British podium, while Verstappen, Piastri, Hadjar, Gasly, Colapinto, Lawson and Lindblad rounded out the points.
Here are the full results.
Championship Standings
With this legendary victory, Hamilton has eaten 25 points off Antonelli's lead who retired from the race. After seven rounds, Antonelli leads with his gap brought down to 41 points to Hamilton in second.
Russell sits a further 10 points behind Hamilton, while it's shaping up to be a tight fight between Leclerc and Norris for fourth — the two separated by two points with Leclerc on 75, and Piastri not too far behind on 68 points.
Up Next
We head to Austria next after a week’s break, where the action will resume from 26th to 28th June. Is Hamilton's quest for the eigth now on? Stay tuned to find out.
