Hamilton takes first Ferrari win in Barcelona as Antonelli retires from the lead

Lewis Hamilton ended a victory drought stretching back to the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix by winning the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix for Ferrari on a sweltering Spanish afternoon. The seven-time world champion, now 41, became the oldest Formula One winner since Jack Brabham triumphed in 1970. Hamilton’s 106th career victory denied Mercedes a sixth consecutive win and slashed Antonelli’s championship lead, according to some sources to 41 points, though other outlets reported a 25-point margin.

A strategy race under scorching heat

Track temperatures near 50°C punished tyres, forcing teams to gamble between two-stop and three-stop plans. Hamilton and Ferrari opted for the more aggressive three-stop approach, while Mercedes committed to two stops for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. After his second visit to the pits, Hamilton was lapping roughly two seconds faster than the Mercedes drivers, making clear his strategy was the better one.

Virtual safety car clears the path

A virtual safety car, triggered when Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin stopped trackside, arrived at a moment that could hardly have favoured Hamilton more. The Briton pitted without losing position and emerged in the lead, turning a scenario in which he might have needed to overtake both Mercedes cars into a controlled run to the flag.

Antonelli’s late retirement

With five laps remaining, Antonelli had just passed Russell for second place after a race-long duel when his Mercedes suffered a technical problem, bringing a sudden halt to his afternoon. That promoted Russell to second and McLaren’s Lando Norris to third, completing the first all-British podium trio since the 1968 United States Grand Prix. Max Verstappen, who had run a quiet race on an alternative soft-to-medium-to-hard strategy, inherited fourth place after Antonelli’s outage but was never in contention for the podium.

Emotional response from Hamilton

I must really thank everyone at Ferrari. Also team principal Fred Vasseur, who believed in me and brought me here.

A win seemed impossible last year maybe, but I never gave up hope. The team always supported me, we made so many changes and improvements.

They are all special in their own way, but this is really something else. When I was a kid I saw Ferrari winning and I always asked myself what it would feel like to win in that car. Now it has happened. Hopefully it’s the first of many more. Forza Ferrari!

Russell, who qualified on pole and led the early laps, offered praise:

I want to congratulate Lewis from the heart. On Saturday it was a surprise that he set the second time in qualifying, but today his speed was really impressive. Ferrari is coming, that’s clear.

Championship picture shifts

Antonelli’s retirement halted a five-race winning streak and trimmed his lead over Hamilton to either 41 points (according to RTE and BBC coverage) or 25 points (per De Standaard). The next race is the Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull’s home event, in two weeks.