#SpanishGP Race Report: @LewisHamilton cruises to dominant victory. #F1

Lewis Hamilton cruised to a comfortable 88^th-career victory at the Spanish GP, nearly lapping the entire field and ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who was second and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas who completed the top three.

Despite promises of Red Bull showing strong long-run pace on the yellow-C3 mediums in practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to challenge Mercedes, Hamilton was able to run quicker during crucial stages of the Grand Prix to keep well in-front of Verstappen to claim his fifth Spanish GP victory.

When the 66-lap Spanish GP began, Hamilton made a lightning-fast move off the line into the first corner, while Bottas looked to have made an average run before he was rapidly passed by Verstappen and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll on the rundown to turn one.

Verstappen swept his way by around the outside at the first turn and chase after Hamilton, whilst Stroll – after an impressive launch from fifth on the grid and got a great slipstream on the leaders and they ran towards the right-hand corner – pushing his way through to take third place.

Bottas had to give up the position and was almost hit by Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon before being able to hunt-down Stroll, eventually reclaiming third with DRS assistance on the main straight on lap five.

Hamilton immediately moved out of DRS range from Verstappen with his race lead remaining stable during the initial stage of the Grand Prix as drivers rapidly went into tyre management mode, with Verstappen reporting to his team that Hamilton was driving “super slow”.

But the reigning world champion turned the wick up with a series of fastest laps after lap ten and built his lead over Verstappen to four seconds.

The lead slowly increased towards the end of the initial stint as Hamilton was the only drivers to be lapping in the 1:23’s, as Verstappen’s frustrations showed by the state of his worn tyres before Red Bull pitted him on lap 21 for a set of fresh mediums.

Mercedes left Hamilton and Bottas out two laps longer before the Brackley-based outfit performed a double-stack pit-stop for both drivers, with the former having a 4.3 second stop due to a slow left-rear tyre change.

This meant Hamilton’s lead was trimmed from seven seconds to 4.3 by the time he emerged, with Verstappen able to match the Briton’s 1:23 lap-times during the early stages of the second stint and cut the gap to below four seconds as they kept switching slightly quicker lap times.

But as in the opening stint, Hamilton once again increased his pace and went into the 1:22’s from the 34^th lap onwards, with the Dutchman unable to keep up with the Mercedes.

This meant Hamilton could easily extend his lead back to what it was in the initial stint before his first pit-stop and then eventually hit the ten second mark before Red Bull pitted Verstappen again on lap 41.

This was to cover an undercut threat from Bottas, who closed in on second place as the leaders started to make their way through the fighting midfielders.

Bottas remained out for another seven laps after firstly charging to the fastest lap of the Grand Prix on lap 42 and switched for a set of softs at the end of the 48^th lap.

Verstappen on his fresh mediums, opened up a 5.8 second gap over Bottas when the Finn emerged, which grew and stabilised as they came through more traffic, with the swap for the softer compounds not paying off for the Mercedes driver.

Hamilton stopped on lap 50 for another set of medium rubber, refusing to put on a set of softs and the Briton was able to run comfortably to the end.

Hamilton crossed the line 24.177 seconds ahead of Verstappen to claim his fifth Spanish GP victory, with the Briton running over debris from Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean at turn two, which did not stop his run to the chequered flag.

Verstappen came home 20.5 seconds clear of third-placed Bottas, as Mercedes brought the latter in for one final stop for softs with two laps remaining, meaning he charged to get the fastest lap with a 1:18.183 to get the extra bonus point on offer, as the threat of rain that appeared in the distance left the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya untouched.

Every driver in the field was overlapped, with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez finishing fourth but was relegated to fifth behind team-mate Stroll – who ran a two-stop strategy to the Mexican’s one-stopper – as Perez was hit with a five-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags as race-leader Hamilton lapped him.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz finished in sixth place, as running softs on his initial stint have the Spaniard extra grip compared to his rivals and used it to his advantage.

Sainz managed to pass Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who was on a one-stopper, along with Stroll, with the German finishing in seventh place after starting 11^th on the medium rubber and keeping his soft tyre stint long.

Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon ran the hard after his initial stint and wound up eighth after starting sixth on the grid, with Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris completing the final points places.

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo made a one-stop strategy gain a few positions but finished outside the top ten in 11^th place and in-front of Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat who was 12^th and team-mate Esteban Ocon who ended the race 13^th.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi were 14^th and 16^th respectively while Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen split the pairing in 15^th.

The two FW43 Williams Racing entries of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi finished in 17^th and 18^th respectively with Haas F1 Team’s Grosjean ending at the rear.

The Frenchman suffered a half-spin at the fast turn seven-eight chicane in the closing stages and opted for another stop and fell to 19^th.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the sole retiree in the race after his power-train cut out due to an electrical issue at the final chicane around the mid-way point of the Grand Prix, which spun the Monegasque-youngster, who was in an intense fight with Norris.

Leclerc managed to get going again but travelled slowly back to the pits with a loose seat belt and parked it the garage on lap 41.

Spanish GP – Top Three

Winner – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+: “I was just in a daze out there, it felt really good. It was a real surprise as we’d had this problem with the tyres, I didn’t even know it was the last lap in the end that’s how in zone I was. I studied very hard before the race to understand which tyres, we were going to use, so I could make them last longer. I was even debating going for a one-stop…”

2^nd – Max Verstappen, #33, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16: “We didn’t have the pace today, so I’m happy [with P2]. We keep trying to improve, so we’ll see.”

3^rd – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W11 EQ Power+: “The start was the key point, the start was not good enough. Lost some positions, struggled with the tyre life. It just didn’t work for me, I’m pretty disappointed.”

Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio De Espana 2020 Race Results Classification (66 Laps)

* Provisional results https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1050/spain.html

You can see the full Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings at the link

Round seven of the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship returns to the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2020 from August 28-30.