Lewis Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix thanks to team strategy and a wonderful drive. Sebastian Vettel couldn’t be better than 2nd and Daniel Ricciardo got an unexpected podium.
Hamilton lost first place at the start and Vettel got the lead of the race. He decided to pit earlier than the Mercedes, and the German team opted for a longer first stint where Bottas had the duty of slowing Vettel down so that Hamilton could pit and catch up with better tyres. This worked out also thanks to a Virtual Safety Car due to Vandoorne‘s retirement after making contact with Massa, because Hamilton pitted at the right moment for soft tyres and then Vettel couldn’t held him back with medium tyres.
Bottas had to retire due to an engine failure. Verstappen and Räikkönen were also out of the race after crashing against each other at the start. This left Ricciardo with a surprising 3rd place. The Force Indias also took advantage of the retirements and they’re now the only ones to have scored points with both cars in all races this season. Hülkenberg was 6th behind Pérez and Ocon in another impressive performance, while his teammate Palmer was 15th only ahead of Stroll. Wehrlein crossed the line with an impressive P7 with a one-stop strategy, though he was sent down to P8 behind Sainz due to a 5s penalty. Kvyat and Grosjean completed the top 10, while local hero Alonso could just be 12th after making contact with Massa on lap 1.
Result:
| POS | DRIVER | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:35:56.497 | 25 | |
| 2 | +3.490s | 18 | |
| 3 | +75.820s | 15 | |
| 4 | +1 lap | 12 | |
| 5 | +1 lap | 10 | |
| 6 | +1 lap | 8 | |
| 7 | +1 lap | 6 | |
| 8 | +1 lap | 4 | |
| 9 | +1 lap | 2 | |
| 10 | +1 lap | 1 | |
| 11 | +2 laps | 0 | |
| 12 | +2 laps | 0 | |
| 13 | +2 laps | 0 | |
| 14 | +2 laps | 0 | |
| 15 | +2 laps | 0 | |
| 16 | +2 laps | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 |