'Epic' lead battle how F1 should be - Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel for victory in the Spanish Grand Prix was an example of how F1 should be.

Hamilton started from pole but dropped behind the Ferrari off the line and was unable to close in during the opening stint as both drivers pushed hard. Mercedes opted for a different strategy and had Hamilton run the slower medium tire in the middle stint before ending on the soft compound, resulting in the Briton having to overtake Vettel on track for the lead.

When Vettel emerged from his final pit stop the two went wheel-to-wheel through Turn 1 and the Ferrari stayed ahead, but Hamilton eventually overtook the championship leader to secure a hard-fought victory.

"Epic race!" Wolff said. "Hopefully the fight continues as it is because it's very, it's how motor racing and Formula 1 should be. Obviously we lost Valtteri [Bottas], which is a bit of bittersweet for us, but watching Sebastian and Lewis fighting it out on track, how the strategies decided against each other, it's what F1 should be."

And Wolff insists he had no complaints about Vettel's robust move that saw Hamilton forced wide at Turn 1 when Vettel defended the lead exiting the pits.

"First of all, that first defense was great. I mean, it was a little bit maybe on the risky side, but it's how risky goes, and he pushed him right. And from then on, we knew we had an advantage on the softs, which were almost brand new, and we also knew that we had to go through the end, 30 laps or 32 laps, so we knew that we had a chance."

With Hamilton sounding breathless on team radio throughout the race and admitting it was a challenge physically, Wolff highlighted the radio messages as evidence of how intense the fight was.

"I think it was just an expression about how hard he was pushing. When you need to follow a car that close behind, you obviously got a pace, or the aerodynamic benefit, from the guy in front. It was difficult, we could see that."