Hamilton’s three-stop scorcher nets his first Grand Prix win for Ferrari in Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton has won his first grand prix as a Ferrari driver by upstaging his former team Mercedes in Barcelona. The impact on the championship race was made even more dramatic when title leader Kimi Antonelli retired from second place with an engine failure three laps from the finish.

Antonelli’s engine failure promoted pole-getter George Russell to second place, slashing the Briton’s title deficit to 50 points.

Russell got a good launch to hold the top spot into the first turn, with Hamilton slotting in behind him but just ahead of Antonelli.

Ferrari’s gamble on a set of soft tires failed to pay significant dividends off the line, and Russell attempted to punish the choice by opening a 3s gap in the first 10 laps to try to safeguard his lead.

The sweltering conditions, however, gave Hamilton a key advantage. The power of the undercut was significant with the track temperature at 125 degrees F, giving him a chance to pressure Russell through the pit lane.

Ferrari pitted Hamilton on lap 11 to switch his softs for hards. It was fine timing for him, but it forced Russell to cover him on the following tour despite running a more durable set of mediums. The stop put the race back on Hamilton’s terms, compromising a Mercedes team determined to run a two-stop race.

Hamilton’s deficit shrunk to 1.5s after Russell stopped, and the Ferrari driver held it within around 2s for the entire stint before making another early stop, this time on lap 27 for a set of mediums. It was a clear indication that Hamilton was on a three-stop strategy, but Mercedes refused to bite, leaving Russell out in the lead to run his race.

The race hinged on Hamilton’s pace in his third stint, and he was ferocious in pursuing a first Ferrari victory that suddenly loomed on the horizon. He rejoined from pit lane around 25s behind Russell, but by lap 35 he had slashed that margin to less than 10s.

Hamilton had a hand in closing the gap. His pitting early gave Antonelli a clear run at Russell, the Italian having looked like the quicker Mercedes driver for much of the grand prix.

They dueled briefly, with Russell forced to defend at the first turn, costing both drivers time. Mercedes, alert to its slipping grasp on the race, instructed both to avoid slowing each other down for the greater good, cooling hostilities.

Hamilton, though, kept charging and by lap 36 he was within 5s. Mercedes pulled the trigger on its second stops, bringing Russell and Antonelli in on laps 36 and 37 respectively, rejoining in net second and third. Their deficit was 15s when Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin stopped at Turn 9, triggering a virtual safety car.

With a pit stop behind the VSC costing only around 12s, it was a no-brainer for Hamilton to stop at the end of lap 41, bolting on a set of new hard tires and re-emerging with a 1.5s lead. With neither he nor the Mercedes drivers having any more stops to make, it was now a straight fight for victory.

Hamilton, though, had no interest in fighting for the win. With surprising ease, he sprinted off into the distance, leaving the battling Mercedes drivers in his wake, to claim an eventually dominant 19.561s victory.

It was Hamilton’s first grand prix victory for Ferrari at his 31st time of asking and his first win since the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix, 685 days ago. It was also Ferrari’s first victory since the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix.

“It started out as a dream last year which seemed almost impossible during my time last year, but we never gave up hope, and the team just continued to lift me up,” he said. “We made so many changes and we made so many improvements.

“I watched Ferrari have all that success when I was younger, watching it on TV, and as I’ve been racing here, I’d always watched the screens and wondered what it would be like to win in that car, and it’s come.

“Everyone worked so hard for it and everyone truly deserves it. I’m forever grateful to them, and this is just the first I hope of many.”

Hamilton’s 106th victory slashes Hamilton’s championship deficit to 41 points behind Antonelli.

“It’s a long, long way to go, and [Mercedes] still have great pace, as you can see, but we’re going to keep working, we’re going to keep trying to close that gap," he said. “It’s not over, that’s for sure.”

Russell’s race quickly turned defensive once Hamilton’s victory was secure, but he couldn’t hold back his rampaging teammate, who pulled alongside him down the front straight on lap 61. The Briton attempted a stern defense, pushing the sister car towards the grass, but the Italian held firm to claim the inside line, and he placed his car perfectly on the apex of Turn 2 and then at Turn 5 to cement the position.

The meaningful psychological victory wasn’t to last, however, with Antonelli pulling off the road on lap 63 of 66 with an apparent engine problem. It allowed Russell to claim second place, shrinking his championship deficit to 50 points.

“Tough day,” he said. “It’s good to be back on the podium and have a bit of a clean race from my side, but Ferrari was mighty impressive today, and we need to keep on pushing.”

Lando Norris was another beneficiary of Antonelli’s retirement, the Briton promoted to the podium after a race spent on its fringes, shadowing the Mercedes drivers but without the pace to make an impact.

“It was a tough race,” he said. “I did my best to keep up with these guys, but they were too quick. We stayed there, we gave ourselves a chance if anything happened, and we obviously got a bit lucky with Antonelli going out.”

Max Verstappen finished fourth for Red Bull Racing ahead of an anonymous Oscar Piastri, who finished 34s behind his podium-getting teammate as the last driver on the lead lap.

A shocking start for Isack Hadjar had the Frenchman down to 14th on the first lap, but he recovered to sixth by the checkered flag ahead of Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.

Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completed the points-paying places for Racing Bulls.

Gabriel Bortoleto, Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez were the last of the finishers, while Charles Leclerc was classified 15th after retiring four laps from the finish with a power steering failure.

Oliver Bearman retired six laps from the finish, joining Alex Albon, Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll on the retirement sheet.

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