Lewis Hamilton finally wins in Barcelona

The Indian sign is defeated, one might say. By finally winning in Barcelona, Lewis Hamilton wins a victory that has been denied him since the start of his career. Author of a race full of mastery, the Briton managed to take off when the lights went out to dominate the other Mercedes W05 Hybrid from Nico Rosberg at the first corner. Behind, Valtteri Bottas (Williams) takes the best of Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) for third place. This is the only change in the top 5 in a start to the race resembling a long procession. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) stands out once again for crashing into Marcus Ericsson's Caterham. Five seconds of stoppage for the Venezuelan as a penalty.

After the first stops, strategies evolve. Nico Rosberg switches to hard tires while Hamilton keeps medium tires. The gap will stabilize around 3″5. Behind the two leaders, Daniel Ricciardo recovers 3rd place against Valtteri Bottas. Both Ferrari follow, driving together, Kimi Räikkönen ahead of Fernando Alonso who initially failed to gain places. Romain Grosjean, then 5th before his first stop, saw the two Italian cars pass him after the first pitstop. Jean-Eric Vergne, for his part, will give up due to an exhaust problem on his Toro Rosso. The Spanish weekend will be one to forget for the Frenchman.

If the first two thirds of the race did not see a big fight, the last part of the event will be much more exciting. It is in particular Sebastian Vettel who will light the fuse in the peloton. Starting 15th following his gearbox change penalty yesterday after a problem in qualifying, the reigning world champion will drop off his rivals one by one, with an aggressive three-stop strategy, to finish in 4th position. The German will have notably faced the Williams of Valtteri Bottas. Two other duels will have animated the end of the race, Alonso-Räikkönen for supremacy at Ferrari, with the Spaniard who will emerge victorious from this all-red fight for 6th place in the final. But it is above all in the head that the suspense will continue. After his last stop, Nico Rosberg will attack Lewis Hamilton. Two laps from the end, the gap fell below second, following a small error by the Briton when braking at turn 10. We think that Rosberg will be able to attempt an attack, but wasted effort, Hamilton maintains the advantage and wins his 4th victory in a row in 2014.

Rosberg therefore finished 2nd ahead of Ricciardo, Vettel, Bottas, Alonso, Räikkönen, Grosjean and the two Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Nico Hulkenberg. No trace of McLaren in the top 10, Button and Magnussen finishing 11th and 12th. With this success, Lewis Hamilton takes back the lead of the championship from Nico Rosberg. The next Grand Prix in the streets of Monaco, where Rosberg won last year, is likely to be very lively!

Discover the analysis of the Spanish Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 1960 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.