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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
John Brewin

Lewis Hamilton wins Spanish Grand Prix: F1 – as it happened

Lewis Hamilton led home another Mercedes one-two.
Lewis Hamilton led home another Mercedes one-two. Photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Here’s Giles Richards’ report from Barcelona.

Updated

Full standings to follow.

Max Verstappen speaks.

It was a hectic first corner so I backed out of it and ended up getting a good position for the rest of Lap 1. The Mercedes were too quick today, but we were competitive after them and it’s great to be on the podium.

Valtteri Bottas speaks.

I lost it at the start - some strange behaviour on the clutch. As a team it’s incredible. I got some good points - every single point counts.

Lewis Hamilton speaks.

I have to put it down to this incredible team. This is history in the making, with five 1-2 finishes in a row. I’m so happy for every one of them. It was an interesting start. I saw the red car of the Ferrari go around the back of us. I knew Valtteri would brake super deep and thankfully, it wasn’t a replay of Baku…[On the fastest lap] I was trying to keep the tyres warm. I haven’t had a fastest lap all year and it was about time.

Hamilton celebrates on the podium.
Hamilton celebrates on the podium. Photograph: Jon Nazca/Reuters

Updated

Here’s the top ten for the Spanish Grand Prix, with Grosjean hanging on to his point.

Updated

While we wait for the formalities, how about giving this a read?

Hamilton hails the crowd and a voice on the radio congratulates him for his drive, and that blistering start. “Well done, Mad Dog,” is the affectionate nickname used by the Mercedes man. They celebrate a fifth straight 1-2.

Hamilton celebrates.
Hamilton celebrates. Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

Updated

Lewis Hamilton wins the Spanish Grand Prix

Hamilton has led from the start, having led from the start when he stole a march on Bottas. He also gets an extra point for fastest lap. Bottas is second, Verstappen is third.

Updated

Lap 65/66: Two laps to go, and the main race is for tenth, which tells you something of what has been occurring in the rest of the pack. The safety car extinguished the battle between Bottas and Verstappen and the Ferraris and Verstappen.

Lap 64/66: Albon of Toro Rosso is about to pass Grosjean of Haas, but no, the driver in tenth just hangs on, but can he last the rest of the race?

Lap 62/66: There are 18 drivers left out there. Only Stroll and Norris have crashed out, an incident that will be looked at by the stewards, no doubt. Hamilton continues serenely, his only worry the blistered tyre he suffered, but that was solved by the safety car and a cheap pit stop.

Lap 61/66: Where will the twist come? It seems unlikely at the front. Grosjean loses his ninth place to Daniil Kvyat and is danger of dropping out of the top ten. He’s been in the wars.

Updated

Lap 60/66: Hamilton’s lead on Bottas is healthy at 2.71 seconds or so, and the fastest lap is the world champion’s, too. Alain Prost looks to be enjoying himself in the back office.

Hamilton sets the fastest lap.
Hamilton sets the fastest lap. Photograph: Pau Barrena/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Lap 59/66: Sainz goes up to eighth, by finally passing Grosjean. That’s popular with the home crowd. He even has a stand named after him on the course.

Lap 57/66: Here’s the prang which brought in the safety car. Sainz and Grosjean had a little bit of a touch as Sainz was trying to get past.

Lap 56/66: Carlos Sainz, who always collects points in his native Spain, is in ninth, having overtaken Kvyat. Hamilton is chasing the fastest lap point to add to his winner’s score, judging by the conversations he is having with his team.

Lap 54/66: Hamilton set a fastest lap in that parade from the gun. The rest were all concerned with each other. Verstappen is chasing down Bottas and has VRS in his locker, with Vettel and Leclerc chasing him down.

Updated

Lap 53/66: Restart! The safety car heads into the lane, and Hamilton leads the pack to the line and sets off, and flies away. Vettel under pressure from Gasly, and Vettel is chasing Vertstappen. Gasly and Magnussen are up against other but Gasly wins out. One of the Toro Rosso cars comes off. Grosjean ended up going off. That was, as predicted, chaotic.

Updated

Lap 52/66: And yes, the safety car is still rolling on...but this could a really chaotic restart at the end of this lap.

Lap 51/66: And still the safety car crawls along....

Lap 50/66: The safety car continues to slow the day down, and we are crawling towards the conclusion.

Safety car leads Lewis Hamilton.
Safety car leads Lewis Hamilton. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters

Updated

Lap 49/66: Vettel asks about the tyres, and if he should change them but is told by the Ferrari team that he would be best served to stay out. Lance Stroll looks annoyed while the track is meanwhile getting a good scrub from the safety team.

Updated

Lap 48/66: The issue is the gravel that Lando Norris splatted all over the track in his clash with Lance Stroll. Norris’ car is loaded on to the truck to be hauled off.

Lap 47/66: Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen, Vettel and Leclerc is the order. Hamilton is complaining about the speed of the safety car, who he wants to go faster so his tyres can be warmed up.

Lap 46/66: Mercedes prepare for a pit stop, but it is Bottas who comes in first to go on the soft compounds. Hamilton is yet to come in. Oh dear! There’s been a prang as Lando Norris comes off, taking Lance Stroll with him. A safety car is imminent, and that’s good news for Hamilton. Norris apologises since Stroll was the unwitting victim. Hamilton takes a cheap pit-stop while the safety car carries on, and then Leclerc comes in.

Updated

Lap 45/66: A worry for Hamilton as his back left tyre looks blistered and another stop is surely imminent. No movement as yet in the Mercedes garage, but some running repairs will be required.

Lap 44/66: Max Verstappen is told of Leclerc’s speed but says he is convinced that the the man from Monaco won’t last so long. Verstappen pits himself, and is out after a speedy pit to go on medium tyres. Leclerc is in third, with Verstappen dividing the Ferraris with Vettel in fifth.

Lap 43/66: Vettel takes it straight to Gasly and speeds past him on the inside to overtaken. The top five are divided by 42 seconds, and the only variable left is the tyre strategy.

Updated

Lap 41/66: Hamilton, talking to his pit lane, says his tyres are not going to last the race, which adds a little intrigue. Vettel changes into medium tyres from hard, and makes a 2.2 seconds pit stop, but that doesn’t stop Gasly going ahead of the German into fifth. Quicker pit from Ferrari but they are chasing place money here.

Hamilton, not happy with his tyres.
Hamilton, not happy with his tyres. Photograph: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Lap 39/66: Lewis Hamilton and Bottas both on those medium tyres have the race to themselves. Verstappen is on soft and will surely require another pit to change them.

Lap 36/66: Seems to be a bit of chaos within Ferrari, with arguments made over strategy between the two writers. Bottas being told to keep his pace so he doesn’t have to change his tyres. Leclerc, then, gives way to Vettel in the same style as before. That was a decision that took far too long.

Lap 34/66: Over halfway there, and anything but a Mercedes win seems highly unlikely. Ferrari still cutting each other’s throats while Verstappen has a lead on both Leclerc and Vettel.

Updated

Lap 32/66: Hamilton has over 8.758 seconds on Bottas, and that’s the Finn taking time off him. Vettel and Leclerc are at close quarters again, with Vettel behind this time around. What will Ferrari decide?

Lap 30/66: Vettel had the fastest lap, which suggest he finally has a set of tyres to his approval, but that has now been taken by Bottas, whose change appears to have sped up his Mercedes.

Updated

Lap 28/66: Lewis Hamilton pits and then comes out in front, and it looks like he will lead from start to finish. Mercedes putting the hammer down on Ferrari on the track and in the pit lane.

Hamilton retains his lead after exiting the pit lane.
Hamilton retains his lead after exiting the pit lane. Photograph: Joan Monfort/AP

Updated

Lap 27/66: Bottas comes into pit, and retains his second place, ahead of Verstappen. A Mercedes One-Two looks nailed on, barring a disaster.

Lap 26/66: Leclerc comes in and Ferrari’s pit is again a tad slow. Leclerc is on hard tyres, while Vettel is on the medium. A confusing strategy.

Updated

Lap 24/66: All of the top five are on soft tyres, and Vettel, on medium, is up to sixth as Magnussen changes to medium tyres. This has been serene for Lewis Hamilton. An open road for him. Danny Kyvat, suddenly, rounds Kimi Raikkonen with an audacious takeover. Old-school stuff from him.

Updated

Lap 22/66: Nobody has yet dropped out, though Robert Kubica, Giovanazzi and Russell have been lapped. Vettel is moving up now, and is seventh.

Lap 21/66: Verstappen pits and gets out quickly, as he drops down to fifth place in soft tyres which suggest a two-stop strategy. Leclerc, the Monégasque, is in third, Gasly in fourth.

Lap 20/66: Here comes Vettel into the pits, and it’s a slow one, with a slow release, perhaps a delay on the rear left, and he gets out ahead of Carlos Sainz. He’s not ahead of Albon and Kyvat, which wasn’t part of the plan. Vettel drops to tenth.

Lap 18/66: Vettel desperately to want to come in, and change his tyres, but his team are reluctant. He was a bit unlucky at the start, in that he ended up having to avoid Bottas and hitting the track. “Pit me when you can,” he says. Leclerc is getting into Verstappen’s lead on him. Vettel would lose three places if he pits and all goes well.

Updated

Lap 16/66: Hamilton is losing fractions to Bottas but not too much, the Englishman very much in control. Verstappen is sat pretty as well with Ferrari not picking up the pace. Leclerc is not finding much, even after binning Vettel.

Lap 14/66: Five teams make up the top ten: Mercedes with Hamilton and Bottas, Red Bull with Verstappen , Ferrari, Haas, and Toro Rosso.

Updated

Lap 13/66: The order has been given, and Leclerc is allowed to swap places with Vettel. Let’s see what the man from Monaco can do with Verstappen. He is putting daylight between himself and his team-mate, who has been complaining to his team about his tyres.

Updated

Lap 11/66: Vettel and Leclerc duking this out, and fighting their own battle, while their rivals swan off ahead of them. Leclerc is the quicker but Vettel is a fine defensive driver. Doing it to a team-mate seems, well, a little wasteful. Verstappen is being given free rein.

Vettel and Leclerc, fighting their own battle.
Vettel and Leclerc, fighting their own battle. Photograph: Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Updated

Lap 10/66: Leclerc and Vettel is the duel of the moment but the Belgian can’t get around his colleague. Hamilton continues to hold the fastest lap, and is almost three seconds clear of Bottas.

Updated

Lap 8/66: Antonio Giovinazzi of Alfa Romeo comes in to change his tyre to hard after seven laps. That appears to be a strategy aimed at picking up point. Leclerc, team-mates with Vettel, is chasing down the German’s Ferrari and looks far quicker. This is playing into the hands of Mercedes. Verstappen is also three seconds clear.

Updated

Lap 6/66: The Mercedes are showing a clean pair of heels to the Ferraris, but not Verstapppen who may still fancy getting beyond Bottas. Vettel’s chance came and went with the start, perhaps, as his car doesn’t look up to the challenge. Hamilton sets a new fastest lap.

Hamilton extends his lead.
Hamilton extends his lead. Photograph: Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Updated

Lap 4/66: A second look at that start shows us that Vettel and Leclerc almost collided, which would have made a bad position worse. Kimi Räikkönen went off the track into the gravel and is now in 19th, having had his car checked in the pit lane.

Lap 3/66: Verstappen has DRS to use if he gets close to Bottas. Hamilton is in prime position to lead from wire to wire here.

Lap 2/66: Vettel gambled and lost and got run out of it. Lewis Hamilton sets a new fastest lap as he goes away from Bottas, who has Verstappen for company.

Off we go....

Bottas is wheel to wheel with Hamilton and Vettel joins them, but locks up and almost careers off the track. Hamilton takes the lead, Bottas is inside him and behind him. Great start by the Englishman, slack by the Finn and Hamilton is blazing away. Vettel complaining about a flat spot on his tyre, having been through the side of the road. Lando Norris drops to 17th, Hamilton has a lead of two seconds already while Verstappen has edged ahead of Vettel and is in third.

Hamilton leads into the first corner.
Hamilton leads into the first corner. Photograph: Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Updated

Away we go for the formation lap, with the cars doing that windy thing to warm up their soft, compound tyres, which are being used by everyone but Kimi Raikkonen.

Weather Report (not featuring Jaco Pastorius)

The start is just a few moments away, the generic, portentous music is playing ahead of the 49th Spanish Grand Prix. Turn One is where the race can be won and lost, which is a long way from the start as these things go. Lewis Hamilton is on the front of the grid for the seventh successive year.

Updated

Kevin Magnussen of Haas, who is eighth on the grid: “The car feels good, hopefully we can have a good one. We have eight points, we need to collect more.”

Romain Grosjean, also of Haas, who is seventh on the grid: “Hopefully we can get the tyres working.”

Lando Norris, the McLaren driver: “I presume the temperature pushes people on to a two-stop strategy, though I am not saying I would.”

Max Verstappen is hopeful of catching up with Ferrari in his Red Bull, and says the hot weather can help his team before the formalities begin with the Spanish national anthem.

Brazilian football superstar Neymar poses for a photo with the Red Bull Racing RB15 on the grid.
Brazilian football superstar Neymar poses for a photo with the Red Bull Racing RB15 on the grid. Photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Updated

Martin Brundle, in absentia a couple of weeks ago, is doing his rounds. He and Jenson Button are inspecting the cars at the front of the grid, while the mechanics are doing their best to cover up their work. Robert Kubica says he “could be better, could be worse”, and that his Williams team needs to keep working to improve.

Here’s Giles Richards’ report from qualifying.

And a preview of the weekend.

Updated

Further news from the grid, to quote the official F1 website: “At Alfa Romeo, meanwhile, an unscheduled change of gearbox for Antonio Giovinazzi will see the Italian go from P17 on the grid to last, following the resulting five-place penalty for the switch.”

Nico Hülkenberg to start from pit lane

He didn’t have much fun in qualifying.

Updated

Preamble

The grid position of the top three is the same as two weeks ago in Baku, but will the result be the same? Valterri Bottas is on pole, Lewis Hamilton is second, and Sebastian Vettel is third, which is exactly how it finished in Baku. Mercedes are going for a fifth straight 1-2 in Barcelona, giving the season a sense of being a procession, though it is Bottas who is blazing a trail with his third straight pole. Hamilton, meanwhile, is going for this third straight win at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The Ferrari pair of Vettel and Leclerc are split by Max Verstappen in his Red Bull.

Updated

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