Formula 1

Hamilton dominates Spanish GP, Verstappen grabs second

by Matt Beer
3 min read

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Lewis Hamilton took an emphatic victory in the Spanish Grand Prix to extend his Formula 1 world championship lead.

His afternoon was immediately made easier when his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas fell behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and Lance Stroll’s Racing Point on the run to the first corner.

Though Verstappen – who Mercedes had labelled as pre-race favourite given his superior tyre management last week at Silverstone – stayed with Hamilton initially, it was the Red Bull that ran into tyre trouble first this week and began to fall away.

Verstappen expressed plenty of frustration over team radio but no strategy was going to get him close to Hamilton on this occasion.

He did manage to keep hold of second, though.

Bottas repassed Stroll with relative ease but couldn’t get close to Verstappen until the eve of the second pitstops. Running longer resulted in Bottas actually losing ground to the Red Bull and switching to softs while his rival took mediums achieved nothing either.

He then pitted again with a lap to get to take mediums for a final shot at the fastest lap, which he at least succeeded in.

Sergio Perez used a one-stop strategy to finish fourth on the road, but a 5s penalty for ignoring blue flags as Hamilton lapped him dropped him behind two-stopping team-mate Stroll.

Sebastian Vettel also went for a one-stop and was as high as fifth as a result. Stroll and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr managed to overtook the Ferrari on track with their fresher tyres but Vettel resisted a queue comprising Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris, fellow one-stopper Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat to take seventh.

The other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc would’ve been in that group had he not retired after a kerb strike caused an engine cutout that sent him into a spin at the chicane. He unclipped his seatbelts thinking he would have to retire before the engine restarted, then pitted and retired anyway.

Albon had been chasing the Racing Points initially before an early stop for hard tyres dropped him into the midfield. He still ended up on a two-stop strategy and struggled to regain ground.

Race Results

Pos Name Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 66 66 1h31m45.279s 1m19.822s 2 25
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda 66 0 +24.177s 1m21.477s 2 18
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 66 0 +44.752s 1m19.75s 3 16
4 Lance Stroll Racing Point-Mercedes 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.024s 2 12
5 Sergio Pérez Racing Point-Mercedes 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.515s 1 10
6 Carlos Sainz McLaren-Renault 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.024s 2 8
7 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.707s 1 6
8 Alex Albon Red Bull-Honda 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.194s 2 4
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.543s 2 2
10 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.392s 2 1
11 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.464s 1 0
12 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.336s 2 0
13 Esteban Ocon Renault 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.174s 1 0
14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 65 0 +1 lap 1m21.888s 2 0
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 65 0 +1 lap 1m23.474s 1 0
16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 65 0 +1 lap 1m21.801s 2 0
17 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 65 0 +1 lap 1m22.503s 2 0
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 64 0 +2 laps 1m22.03s 2 0
19 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 64 0 +2 laps 1m20.409s 2 0
Charles Leclerc Ferrari 38 0 DNF 1m23.968s 2 0
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