Former Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton won his first race as part of the legendary Ferrari team, capturing victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in Spain on Sunday.
The triumph came in his 31st race with Ferrari in a year of resurgence for Hamilton. The 41-year-old is in second place in the driver standings, trailing teenager Kimi Antonelli, who was seeking his sixth consecutive victory for his Mercedes team.
Hamilton finished sixth in the standings in 2025, well behind season winner Lando Norris of McLaren. He had not stood atop the podium since he won the Belgian Grand Prix in July 2024 while driving for Mercedes.
“I started out with a dream last year, which seemed almost impossible during my time last year,” Hamilton said immediately after the race. “But we never gave up hope. The team just continued to lift me up. We made so many changes and so many improvements. On top of that, I’ve got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for. Thank you. Thank you to everybody.”
Hamilton executed his team’s plan to perfection in Barcelona. They used a three-stop strategy, employed tyres they thought would be most efficient in the blazing heat and were aided by a free stop while under a Virtual Safety Car. The temperature on the track at the start of the race was above 50C (122F), F1 reported.
Russell held on to the early lead with Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris and four- time season champion Max Verstappen doing the chasing while maintaining their starting positions.
On Lap 12, the leaders all sought a tyre change as they began to impact performance. On Lap 23, Ferrari called in Hamilton for another tyre change, and he closed on the lead, thanks to his fresh set.
As the other drivers hit the pits again, Hamilton took a 16-second lead.
After the Virtual Safety Car came out, Hamilton was called in again by Ferrari with 24 laps to go. When he returned to the circuit, his lead was less than three seconds over Russell, but Hamilton had the advantage of fresh, hard tyres.
With five laps remaining, Antonelli passed Russell for second place, but a broken end plate forced him out of the race and ended his winning streak.
Hamilton finished 19.5 seconds ahead of Russell, with Norris finishing third. The trio made up the first all-British podium since 1968.
Russell said post-race that Ferrari is emerging as a threat to other teams, thanks to extensive improvements.
“Firstly, huge congrats to (Hamilton) because I know how hard he works. We spent a lot of years together at Mercedes, so I’m really pleased to see him back to the Lewis I remember when I was growing up watching Formula 1,” he said.
“But yeah, a tough day, it’s good to be back on the podium and have a bit of a clean race from my side. Ferrari were mighty impressive today and we need to keep on pushing.” (AlJazeera)
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