Hamilton quiet winner ahead of Verstappen in Barcelona

In the universe of Toto wolff, Max Verstappen was the favorite of this Spanish Grand Prix contested in torrid heat. The pilot Red Bull certainly signs a new performance of choice to further separate the Mercedes but in real life, Lewis Hamilton and its formidable W11 remain the indisputable references of the set.

Author of an excellent start from pole position, the six-time world champion was not worried all afternoon, leading in his hand in Catalonia and leading from start to finish.

Valtteri Bottas had identified the start as his best chance to gain the upper hand over his cumbersome teammate. The Finn was right: the first meters of the race were decisive but not in the way he would have liked.

Overwhelmed by Verstappen, who started 3rd, and the Racing Points Lance stroll and Sergio Pérez. Bottas responded immediately to the Mexican but lost valuable ground compared to the Red Bull driver.

If Verstappen maintained the gap with Hamilton at the start of the race, the Flying Dutchman was not fooled by the real pace of the Mercedes and was already complaining about his soft tires.

Impressions confirmed by an increase in pace for Hamilton who calmly overtook his rivals. Behind, Bottas had managed to get rid of Stroll as soon as DRS was available and was trying to get back on Verstappen. In vain.

Despite a small scare at the end of the race, when he rolled over a piece of carbon that had fallen from the Haas de Romain Grosjean at the first turn, Hamilton calmly sailed towards a 4th victory this season, the 88th of his career, 3 lengths from the absolute record of Michael Schumacher.

The Briton already surpasses the number of podiums gleaned by the seven-time German world champion by stepping onto the box for the 156th time since his debut in 2007.

Behind, Verstappen secured 2nd place, ahead of Bottas, who consoled himself with the best lap in the race after making a 3rd free stop to fit fresh mediums after trying to challenge Verstappen on Softs. Because yes, the leading trio took a turn on the entire field.

Racing Point finally confirms its good performances in the race with the 4th and 5th places of Lance Stroll and Sergio Pérez. The Mexican tried to make a one-stop strategy work and finished ahead of his Canadian teammate but he received a severe 5-second penalty for not respecting the blue flags.

Carlos Sainz finally gets rid of his bad luck in 2020 and signs a very good race to score big points with McLaren. He missed 1”5 to get ahead of Pérez after his sanction was applied. The Spaniard has always finished in the Top 10 since his debut in F1 in 2015.

Despite another difficult race for Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel hangs on to finish 7th with only one stop. His teammate Charles Leclerc abandoned due to an electrical problem with his engine.

Started 6th, Alexander albon (Red Bull) finds itself on a strategy that is delicate to say the least with a move to Hard which does not really succeed. The Thai finished 8th, just ahead of his predecessor in Milton Keynes, Pierre Gasly, author of a new quality race at the wheel of his Alpha Tauri.

The Frenchman resisted the pressure until the end. Lando Norris, who snatches the last point in play from under the nose of his future teammate Daniel Ricciardo (Renault).
 

Discover the full report and analysis of the Spanish Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondent in Catalonia, in issue 2274 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version and from this Wednesday on newsstands.