Hamilton Wins in Barcelona as Ferrari’s Gamble Pays Off and Antonelli Retires
Lewis Hamilton won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix for Ferrari, ending Mercedes’ winning streak and taking his first victory in nearly two years.
It was not a straightforward win. Ferrari started him on soft tyres while most of the grid went medium, an aggressive call that cost him the lead off the line. Russell held him off at the start and built a gap early. Hamilton pitted first on Lap 12, switching to hards, and returned to the track in fifth.
The bet Ferrari made on Lap 23
From there, Ferrari played the longer game. They called Hamilton back in on Lap 23, sending him onto fresh mediums while others were still running their first set. He came out with a net race lead and began lapping around 2.5 seconds faster than Russell. The gap started closing.
The decisive moment came when Alonso retired and triggered a Virtual Safety Car. Ferrari brought Hamilton in for his third stop at no real cost, and he rejoined with 24 laps left and just under three seconds over Russell. His fresh hard tyres did the rest.
He crossed the line 19.5 seconds clear.
What the rest of the grid looked like
Russell held on for P2. Norris took P3 for McLaren, the first all-British podium since 1968. Verstappen was fourth, Piastri fifth, Hadjar sixth. Alpine had a strong afternoon with Gasly and Colapinto in P7 and P8, though Colapinto faces a post-race investigation for a yellow flag infringement.
The part that changes the season
The bigger story was at the top of the standings. Antonelli came into Barcelona as championship leader and spent much of the race pushing hard behind Russell, picking up a black and white flag for track limits in the process. On Lap 62, he fought past his team mate to take P2. Moments later, he was parked on the grass with a broken end plate.
Almost at the same time, Leclerc pulled off with power steering failure.
Two Ferrari retirements. One Ferrari win. Seven DNFs total on a day that also ended the races of Alonso, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Bearman, and Stroll.
Hamilton cut into Antonelli’s standings lead. Russell had gone into Monaco already 68 points behind his team mate. Barcelona closed that gap further. The title fight is not settled.
