Lewis Hamilton claimed an emotional first Grand Prix victory for Ferrari at the Barcelona Grand Prix, ending a run of nearly two years without a race win. In doing so, Hamilton became the oldest Grand Prix winner since 1970, accomplishing this a whopping 19 years after his first race win in his rookie season.
In Saturday’s qualifying, George Russell claimed pole with a convincing three-tenths margin to his teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli. However, Hamilton was close to taking the first non-Mercedes pole position of 2026, setting a time just 0.064 seconds off Russell’s pace.
At Sunday’s race start, Russell held off the threat from Hamilton to keep the lead. Not content with staying in P2, Hamilton and Ferrari opted for a different strategy, with three pit stops, instead of Mercedes’ two-stop strategy. This proved crucial on a track with significant tyre degradation, worsened by the 30°C heat.
The turning point of the Grand Prix was when the Virtual Safety Car was brought out, following Fernando Alonso’s battery-prompted retirement. Hamilton was in the lead, which meant that he could take his final pit stop and save around ten seconds, while the rest of the pack drove at a restricted speed.
After a successful stop, he still came out ahead of both Mercedes cars, instead of having to hunt them down. Hamilton showed blistering pace, recording seven of the ten fastest laps of the whole race in his final stint and crossing the line with an impressive 19.5 second lead over Russell. This clear margin suggests he would have won even without the VSC!
Hamilton’s emotion was evident on his team radio after the chequered flag: “Thank you so much, you’ve helped me achieve this dream, Forza Ferrari! Forza Ferrari!”
Hamilton’s victory was his first for Ferrari, and his first since July 2024. This takes him up to 106 career Grand Prix victories, further extending his all-time record. It was also Ferrari’s first win since Carlos Sainz’s P1 at the Mexico GP nearly two years ago.
The Mercedes drivers gave us numerous battles throughout the race, with Antonelli overtaking Russell with just six laps left to go. However, Antonelli was unable to finish the race due to an engine failure — the second reliability issue for Mercedes in three races. Antonelli also received a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, although this was obsolete as he did not finish the race.
Hamilton led an all-British podium (the first since 1968) with Russell in P2 and Lando Norris in P3. The reigning world champion’s podium will provide some relief to McLaren, as Norris was unable to finish the previous two races due to gearbox and battery problems. Elsewhere, Max Verstappen kept Oscar Piastri behind to take P4, while his Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar recovered to finish P6 after falling to P14 at the race start.
Pierre Gasly, coming off the back of an impressive podium in Monaco that took five days to be awarded due to a penalty appeal, recorded another strong points finish (P7). His Alpine teammate Franco Colapinto was P10 after a 10-second penalty.
Racing Bulls also secured a double points finish, with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad finishing P8 and P9 respectively.
While Hamilton had his strongest weekend yet this season, his teammate Charles Leclerc had another one to forget. His crash in Q3 meant he started his race from P10. Despite recovering to P6, he retired after going into the gravel towards the end of the race, citing a loss of power steering as the cause. This is the second weekend in a row Leclerc has failed to score points, following his crash at his home race in Monte Carlo.
Despite Antonelli’s retirement, he still leads the championship, 50 points clear of teammate Russell, but now only 41 points ahead of Hamilton. Mercedes have so far looked like the strongest team in 2026; but with Hamilton achieving three consecutive podiums including his first Ferrari victory, their dominance may not be as assured as many fans assumed. He has proven that Mercedes are not unstoppable. Can he put himself into the battle for his record-breaking eighth World Drivers’ Championship? Only time will tell.
“2026 Chinese GP – Ferrari – Lewis Hamilton – Qualifying” by Liauzh is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
