Lewis Hamilton drove away from the competition once again
Photo: Bryn Lennon / Getty ImagesLewis Hamilton took his fourth win of the season in the sixth race. At the Spanish Grand Prix, British World Champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas relegated to the places. Verstappen still won the anniversary race at Silverstone. In Barcelona, Hamilton's black silver arrow found its way back to its usual superiority.
After qualifying, the Mercedes occupied the first row together. Bottas, however, got off to a poor start: Verstappen and Racing Point driver Lance Stroll pulled up next to the Finns before the first corner. In order to avoid a collision, Bottas let both of them pass - but then lost five laps behind Stroll before he pushed past the competitor in the defeated racing car on the start-finish straight.
At the top, Hamilton could not break away from Verstappen at first. The Dutchman suspected a strategy behind this: "He just drives slowly", Verstappen radioed to his team. The Mercedes had difficulties this season especially when the soft tire deteriorated too early. At track temperatures above 30 degrees, Hamilton initially exercised caution, but made sure to keep Verstappen so far at a distance that he never had the opportunity to start an overtaking maneuver with DRS help.
Rain does not fall, Leclerc fails
The first pit stops did not change anything at the top: Verstappen got a set of medium tires after 23 laps, the Mercedes followed suit with the same strategy one lap later. At this point in time, only the weather forecast seemed to promise tension: the Ferrari crew expected a downpour from the 50th of 66 laps halfway through the race. Mercedes and Red Bull did not adapt their strategies to this - and they were right: the rain should spare the drivers.
After 42 laps, Verstappen picked up one last set of soft tires, after 50 (Bottas) and 51 (Hamilton) laps, the Mercedes followed. This did not result in a change of position: Hamilton was clearly ahead of Verstappen, who in turn saved a comfortable lead over Bottas at the finish. Behind them, Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll came across the line in the Racing Points, who were able to maintain their positions from qualifying - and then swapped: Pérez had ignored a blue flag and received a five-second time penalty.
The Ferrari experienced another eventful weekend: Charles Leclerc, who started in ninth place, had to park his car in the pit lane after 41 laps. Sebastian Vettel, who had the advantage of being able to choose tires freely when starting position eleven, tried a one-stop strategy: In the meantime, the Germans moved up to fifth place, and in the end it was enough for seventh place.
Hamilton on a record hunt
Hamilton's victory was the fourth success in a row for the world champion on the Barcelona track and the fifth overall at the Spanish Grand Prix. Hamilton only needs one victory to set Michael Schumacher's course record of six daily victories. In contrast to Spielberg and Silverstone, there will only be one race in Barcelona this year; the season will continue on August 30th in Spa-Francorchamps with the Belgian Grand Prix.
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