Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton stormed in to win F1 Spanish GP as Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was second from Valtteri Bottas.
Pole-sitter Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton led the way nicely in F1 Spanish GP at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona as Valtteri Bottas’ slower start meant he lost the place to Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and even Racing Point’s Lance Stroll.
He kept the other Racing Point’s Sergio Perez at bay as the slow start from Bottas caught out Red Bull’s Alexander Albon who stayed sixth with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz holding seventh as AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly made the move up to eighth.
He passed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as well as McLaren’s Lando Norris, who dropped to 10th, keeping Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel behind, who had AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat on his tail after the Russian kept his nose ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo.
It steadied on as Hamilton started to build a gap to Verstappen, who had Bottas on him after the Finn passed Stroll. Having chased Perez early on, Albon started to lose tyres as well to remain sixth but Red Bull chose for an early stop to hard on Lap 18 for the Thai.
His teammate Verstappen started to complain about his tyres as he wanted to pit immediately. The team eventually got him in on Lap 22, switching to the soft compound as he managed to get out ahead of the Racing Point cars without much trouble.
Mercedes reacted as they double-stacked Hamilton and Bottas on Lap 24 with Verstappen back in between them. It was a slower stop for Hamilton, though, with both switching the medium tyres. The Racing Point stayed out along with the Ferrari drivers.
Hamilton steadied in to lead the F1 Spanish GP from Verstappen and Bottas as Racing Point had track position over Albon after their stops to come out ahead. The Thai racer on the hard compound struggled in the traffic as he lost to Sainz due to it.
He had Gasly on his tail with Leclerc’s stop dropping him behind Norris while Vettel dropped back behind Kvyat as well. It got feisty as the Monegasque punched hard to pass the Brit, who had Ocon ahead but the Frenchman pitted after half distance.
His teammate Ricciardo did so a lap later as both dropped way off outside the Top 10. The F1 Spanish GP field steadied with Stroll in fourth despite Perez giving him a handful, while Sainz gained a place to be sixth ahead of Albon, Gasly, Norris and Leclerc.
But the order changed after Leclerc had an engine cut-off to spin in the final sector. He got back going but pitted to retire, promoting Kvyat to 10th. Red Bull, meanwhile, got Albon in for his second stop on Lap 41 to change onto the medium.
Verstappen pitted in the next lap to change to the medium as well. The others started to come in for their second stop as well but track position was lost for Albon with Sainz coming out just ahead and despite a fight, it stayed like that.
Even Gasly came ahead of Norris with track position as Perez was under investigation for ignoring blue flags and was handed a five-seconds penalty for it. Just when he was penalised, Kvyat was put under investigation for the same offence.
The Russian was handed a five-seconds penalty too. It was plain sailing at the front with the leader clearing everyone bar the other podium drivers. Behind, Stroll steadied on for fourth with the penalty to Perez as Vettel started to struggle with the tyres.
A late switch to the one-stop meant Vettel dropped behind Stroll and Sainz with Albon, Gasly and Norris in the chasing pack. At the back, though, Haas’ Romain Grosjean was having some fight against the Alfa Romeo Racing duo in F1 Spanish GP.
He almost had Kimi Raikkonen clouting the back of him while he did bump with Antonio Giovinazzi, shedding carbon fiber on the track which Hamilton ran through. The incident was put under investigation by the stewards as the Frenchman had a late spin.
Bottas pitted late for the fastest lap which he got but teammate Hamilton had it under control to win the F1 Spanish GP with Verstappen in second and the Finn third, where the Top 3 were the only ones to finish on the lead lap.
Perez finished fourth on the road but a five-seconds penalty dropped him to fifth behind his teammate Stroll on the one-stop as Sainz did well in sixth along with Vettel, who remarkably held on to eighth on the one-stop ahead of Albon.
It was a close finish with Gasly in ninth, Norris 10th as Ricciardo missed on points in 11th from Kvyat and Ocon. Raikkonen did well in 14th ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen with Giovinazzi, Williams’ George Russell & Nicholas Latifi and Grosjean completing the order.
DNF: Leclerc.
