Lewis Hamilton scored his first win in red thanks to a strategy masterclass by Ferrari to give the seven-time world champion his maiden victory for the Scuderia at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Kimi Antonelli was set to finish in second position behind Hamilton before an engine issue occurred with three laps remaining, handing the runner-up place to teammate George Russell.
Antonelli’s retirement meant Lando Norris completed the podium, one which saw Hamilton finally achieve victory on his 31st Ferrari start.
The seven-time world champion arrived in Barcelona after two consecutive P2 finishes to Antonelli and said after Monaco last weekend that his 106th Formula 1 career victory “couldn’t be closer”.
But he was made to work for it, as a “big reset” led to Russell beating his former teammate to pole after slipping 68 points behind Antonelli who rounded out the top three starting positions.
Different strategies were shown during the race, as Mercedes chose the favourable medium compound compared to Hamilton on softs, which had previously shown tyre deg in the heat.
So it did not take long for that to show in the hot conditions, as Russell held firm at race start before moving three seconds clear of Hamilton during the opening ten laps.
The driver who made the most places was Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc who jumped from tenth to sixth on mediums, before starting to apply pressure on Max Verstappen with softs.
Hamilton and Verstappen therefore respectively pitted for hard and medium tyres quite quickly, coming in on lap 12 with Russell following on the next lap, though against his wish.
The Mercedes driver was worried he would been “exposed” to Antonelli who had extended his first stint, but race engineer Marcus Dudley confirmed there was “nothing to worry about”.
That’s because Antonelli only stayed out for two extra laps before fitting the hard compound, where he rejoined in third to keep the order as it was during an expected two-stop race.
But Ferrari made a masterstroke with Hamilton’s strategy by pitting him for mediums on lap 28, having initially struggled to close on Russell across a very stationary second stint.
The seven-time world champion rejoined in seventh, quickly taking sixth from Oscar Piastri at Turn 4, before fifth on lap 30 as Verstappen suffered a slow 4.5 seconds pitstop for hard tyre.
Yet going for a three-stopper turned into a masterclass from Ferrari, as it allowed a rapid Antonelli to close to within half a second of Russell after being caught out by traffic.
The championship leader therefore launched an attack, each time Russell holding firm, but it caused the Silver Arrows drivers to take time off each other while Leclerc easily let Hamilton by into fourth on lap 32.
“Am I catching them?” was Hamilton’s response, sensing his best chance yet of a maiden Ferrari win as he continuously reduced the gap on fresh mediums – helped by Norris pitting from third.
Third soon became the race lead as Mercedes pitted both drivers for hards come lap 38, leaving Russell and Antonelli respectively 16 seconds and 17 seconds behind the Ferrari driver before a lap 41 VSC.
That happened as Fernando Alonso had to stop at Turn 9, giving Hamilton a timely opportunity to pit for hards and rejoin two-seconds ahead of Russell just as the VSC ended.
“Great job guys” Hamilton reacted, before gradually building his advantage across a controlled final stage as Mercedes had no answer to the pace of the Ferrari.
So the Scuderia eventually ended the Silver Arrows’ perfect start to 2026, taking victory at round seven and its first since Carlos Sainz’s win at the Mexico Grand Prix in October 2024.
As for Hamilton, this was his first victory since July of that same 2024 season in Belgium, crossing the finishing line 19.5 seconds ahead of Russell who had briefly dropped to third after a late overtake from Antonelli down the pit straight.
But only two laps later, on lap 63, trouble hit Antonelli as it did Leclerc who had lost the power steering in the other Ferrari to retire from sixth.
So it left an all-British podium of Hamilton, Russell and Norris, ahead of fourth-placed Verstappen, fifth-placed Piastri and Isack Hadjar in sixth for Red Bull.
Alpine duo Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto were respectively seventh and eighth, with Racing Bulls pair Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completing the top ten.
So congratulations to Lewis Hamilton in winning his first Grand Prix as Ferrari driver. Back in 1996, Michael Schumacher achieved his first for the Scuderia at this track. Fast forward 30 years, the seven-time champion is victorious. It will be fascinating if Ferrari can continue this challenge to Mercedes over the course of the season. If so, Lewis has an opportunity to go at his eighth drivers’ title.
Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:32:28.105
2 George Russell Mercedes +19.561s
3 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +23.719s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +40.497s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +58.661s
6 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford +1 lap
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +1 lap
8 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +1 lap
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +2 laps
12 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +2 laps
13 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +2 laps
14 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +3 laps
Charles Leclerc Ferrari DNF
Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes DNF
Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari DNF
Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes DNF
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Nico Hulkenberg Audi DNF
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Lewis Hamilton secured a magnificent maiden Grand Prix victory for Ferrari in Barcelona to bring Mercedes’ 2026 winning streak to an end, beating George Russell and Lando Norris while Kimi Antonelli failed to finish the race.
Although Ferrari’s initial choice to start the Briton on soft tyres didn’t help him take the lead on the opening lap, they gambled on a three-stop strategy which played out flawlessly as Hamilton gained a free stop under a Virtual Safety Car.
He delivered a series of stunning laps to gradually increase his advantage over the Silver Arrows and claim his first win in nearly two years, cutting down Antonelli’s lead in the Standings at the same time.
Russell was forced to settle for P2 while Norris took P3 for McLaren, marking the first all-British podium since 1968. It wasn’t an easy drive for the Mercedes man as he was passed by his team mate late in the race before Antonelli’s unfortunate retirement on Lap 62 of 66.
Red Bull were fourth and sixth, with Max Verstappen outperforming Isack Hadjar, while Oscar Piastri secured P5 to take a solid points haul for the reigning Constructors’ Champions.
View all standings
The Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto enjoyed a fantastic day in P7 and P8, although the Argentine driver is set to be investigated after the race for a yellow flag infringement. They were joined in the top-10 by Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, scoring double points for a second consecutive race.
Gabriel Bortoleto and Carlos Sainz followed in 11th and 12th ahead of the last of the finishers in Haas’ Esteban Ocon and Cadillac’s Sergio Perez. Alex Albon was classified as finishing 18th, but was eight laps behind his rivals after pitting to fix a problem with his Williams.
There were seven official retirements in total, all caused by a variety of car issues. The biggest shocks were Standings leader Antonelli and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, both of whom endured DNFs late on.
Aston Martin endured a dismal day as both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso failed to take the chequered flag, while Cadillac ended Valtteri Bottas’ race as a precaution. After running in the points early on, Nico Hulkenberg was also unable to finish the Grand Prix for Audi, and Ollie Bearman was a late retiree with Haas.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/hamilton-claims-stellar-maiden-grand-prix-victory-for-ferrari-in-barcelona-as-antonelli-suffers-shock-retirement.4yCXiPLHUdcnl2BwNpqUIa
Lewis Hamilton thanked Ferrari for helping him “achieve a dream” after taking his maiden grand prix win as a member of the Scuderia.
Hamilton and Ferrari went on the offensive in F1’s tyre battle on a sweltering Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Unlike most other frontrunners, including poleman George Russell, Hamilton opted for a start of softs, with the excessive tyre degradation all but nailing him to a three-stop strategy.
That allowed the seven-time world champion to fully flex his upgraded SF-26’s muscles, putting pressure on Russell and the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli as they were nursing their hard tyres, with Russell in particular struggling for pace with a lack of front load.
Hamilton received an additional bit of assistance from old nemesis Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard parked his Aston Martin on lap 40, allowing the Briton to take his first and final stop under virtual safety car conditions.
But the Ferrari’s blistering pace in the final stint suggested either Mercedes would have struggled to contain the 41-year-old on his quest for a first Ferrari grand prix win in 31 attempts.
On the cooldown lap, an emotional Hamilton thanked his team for helping him “achieve this dream” of winning in red.
“Grazie a tutti Maranello, thank you so much!” Hamilton said. “You helped me achieve this dream and I can’t thank you enough. Thank you to everyone for pushing so hard back at home. I’m so proud of you.
“Thank you to my family and thank you to the fans for continuing to remind me who I am, I couldn’t have done it without you.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lewis-hamilton/10830268/
Charles Leclerc was left to rue a difficult weekend at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, having been forced to retire late on while Ferrari team mate Lewis Hamilton claimed victory.
The Monegasque driver was on the back foot in Sunday’s 66-lap race having crashed in Q3 which put him only P10 on the grid, although Leclerc was able to move up to seventh on the opening lap.
He soon passed McLaren’s Oscar Piastri but found himself unable to make any further progress from P6 as the race entered its final stages.
But a mechanical issue sent the Ferrari driver off into the gravel on the exit of Turn 2 with just a handful of laps remaining, forcing Leclerc to crawl back to the pits before retiring.
“It’s not only power steering, in general I had no brakes, no power steering, no shifts, so I guess it’s something with the hydraulic there. I don’t know yet exactly what happened,” said Leclerc afterwards.
Leclerc’s difficult Sunday was in stark contrast to Hamilton’s, with the seven-time World Champion taking his first GP victory for Ferrari having utilised a three-stop strategy against the two stops employed by Mercedes.
It means Hamilton has finished on the podium in the last three Grands Prix, while Leclerc has not stood on the rostrum since Japan back in March.
“I don’t want to take any credit for today, I don’t think I did much for team,” added Leclerc, having moved out of the way of Hamilton as the Briton charged up the order after his second pit stop.
“I think Lewis and the team won it on their own and I wish I had been a bit more in front. Been a bit more in the mix of things but I wasn’t for my fault. A huge congratulations to Lewis who has been on it for quite a bit and has been incredible.
“And a huge congrats to the team who is pushing massively on upgrades and we are showing it now. It’s good to see this, I’m just very disappointed in my side obviously.”
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2016 Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg believes Lewis Hamilton’s “spectacular” Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix victory will propel the 41-year-old to even greater heights in the 2026 championship battle.
Following a blockbuster switch to Ferrari in 2025, Hamilton initially endured a challenging start to his much-anticipated career in Maranello. After adapting to the new team in 2025, he has bounced back in 2026. His win in Barcelona followed back-to-back second-place finishes in Canada and Monaco, and a third-place finish in China.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 following the race, Rosberg, who raced alongside Hamilton at Mercedes from 2013 to 2016, explained: “I can honestly enjoy it with him. And I just congratulated him. I was very happy to congratulate him because it’s awesome.
“I really felt for the struggles he went through as he started his time with Ferrari. It was horrible to watch. And now he’s just thriving so well and flying, and confident, and enjoying it, and that’s just awesome. This win is historic. It’s spectacular. So, a great day for him, for the sport.”
According to Rosberg, this newfound momentum is exactly what makes Hamilton so dangerous for the remainder of the season.
“He’s also entering into this positive flywheel,” the former Mercedes driver added. “You get positive results, you get more motivated, you get happier, you work harder. So this is going to propel him even higher, together with his team. So it’s an incredible momentum at the moment over there.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/nico-rosberg-backs-lewis-hamilton-momentum-after-historic-barcelona-f1-win/10830319/
Kimi Antonelli admits feeling “a bit empty” after a late mechanical issue denied the Mercedes driver from claiming a podium in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old was on course to finish second in Sunday’s 66-lap race behind race winner Lewis Hamilton, Antonelli having overtaken Mercedes team mate George Russell in the closing stages at Turn 1.
But having just moved ahead of Russell, Antonelli’s Mercedes came to a halt out on track, bringing the Italian’s run of five Grand Prix victories to an end and registering his first retirement of the season.
“I feel a bit empty to be fair right now, but it is what it is,” said Antonelli. “Races are like this and it comes and goes.
“For sure the pace was good today. I struggled a little bit in stint one but stint two and three, I felt like I had quite a lot of pace and of course it’s a shame because it was like three laps from the end, almost there. But as I said, races are like this, it’s no one’s fault and now we look forward to the next one.”
Antonelli had started behind both Russell and Hamilton, with Mercedes employing a two-stop strategy as opposed to Ferrari, who placed Hamilton on a three-stop due to the hot conditions.
The seven-time World Champion showed impressive pace but likely would have had to re-pass both Mercedes drivers after making his final pit stop.
That was until a short VSC allowed Hamilton to pit and rejoin in the lead, with Antonelli believing if he had got ahead of Russell earlier, he might have been able to stop Hamilton from claiming his first Grand Prix win with Ferrari.
“First of all, I’m very happy for Lewis because he’s been chasing that first win with Ferrari for so long and I’m really happy for him to see him succeed in that,” said Antonelli, who sits 41 points ahead of Hamilton in the Drivers’ standings.
“I think if I could have made a move in stint two on George, [it] would have been a bit of a different race because, as I said, the pace was very good especially at the end of the stint.
“I feel like it maybe would have been very close with Lewis with the VSC, so maybe we could have fought but it is what it is.
“I think also my side, yesterday I didn’t do a good job so definitely now a week of rest and then ready for Austria to come back stronger and be back at the best form.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/i-feel-a-bit-empty-antonelli-reflects-on-late-barcelona-catalunya-gp-retirement.6wpFZCfvdQgU4FKe3q1dic
Lewis Hamilton believes that his victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was unlike any other in his career, with the Ferrari driver delivering a brilliant performance to beat Mercedes’ George Russell.
After staying under the radar throughout practice, Hamilton’s final effort in Qualifying was enough to secure P2 on the grid – missing out on the top spot by just 0.064s to his former team mate.
It looked as though the Scuderia’s initial decision to start him on soft tyres while Mercedes opted for the medium compound didn’t pay off, as he remained second, but their three-stop strategy played out to perfection thanks to a Virtual Safety Car.
After pitting for a second time, Hamilton took the net race lead as he posted a series of flying laps that cut into Russell’s advantage before Fernando Alonso pulled onto the grass with an issue, bringing out the VSC and allowing him to box again without losing too much time.
From there, the seven-time World Champion held off the Silver Arrows and built an unassailable lead to claim a spectacular maiden Grand Prix win with Ferrari, marking the culmination of months of work behind the scenes.
“First I have to start and say a huge grazie to everyone here, my team here at Ferrari, everyone back at the factory, Fred [Vasseur] for believing in me and bringing me to this team,” Hamilton said after the race. “I started out 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.
“We made so many changes and we made so many improvements, and on top of that I’ve got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for. Thank you, thank you to everybody.”
Asked where this win ranks among his 106 total victories, he added: “They’re all special in their own way but this one’s something else.
“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 watch the screens and wonder what it would be like to win in that car, and it’s come.
“Everyone worked so hard for it, everyone truly deserves it, so I am forever grateful to them and this is just the first I hope of many. But great pit stops today, great strategy, the car felt fantastic, and forza Ferrari.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/this-ones-something-else-hamilton-reacts-to-magical-maiden-win-with-ferrari-in-barcelona.7vmAJqyTHDtJZP60wStqSg