Lewis Hamilton makes Formula One history in Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton picked up a record 156th Podium finish following a comfortable victory at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Starting Grid

Mercedes locked out the front row with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in first and second respectively with Max Verstappen in third. The Racing Point pairing of Sergio Perez started P4 and P5 and Alex Albon joined Stroll on the third row in P6.

The McLaren pair of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris started in P7 and P8 with Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly rounding off the top ten.

Sebastian Vettel started in P11 and Daniil Kvyat in P12. Daniel Ricciardo in P13, Kimi Raikkonen in P14 and Esteban Ocon in P15.

The two Haas’ of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean started in P16 and P17 respectively with the two Williams of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi in P18 and P19 and Antonio Giovinazzi started on the back of the grid in P20.

And It’s Lights Out And Away We Go!

The majority of drivers, including all of the top ten started on the soft tyres, while the rest starting on the medium and more durable tyres.

Hamilton got out infront, with Verstappen and Stroll moving ahead of Bottas, who’s poor start saw him drop to fourth.

Verstappen was looking to replicate his fortunes from the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. But he had a mountain to climb early on as Hamilton moved two seconds clear infront.

Bottas was able to get past Stroll at the start of lap five, using DRS assistance in turn one.

At the start of lap ten, Hamilton was out in front ahead with Verstappen in second and Bottas in third. Stroll was fourth, Perez was in fifth, Albon in sixth, Sainz in seventh, Gasly in eighth, Leclerc in ninth and Norris rounded off the top ten.

Hamilton then recorded two consecutive fastest laps, posting a 1:23.067 on lap 12 and then got into the 1:22’s on lap 13.

On lap 18, Alex Albon replaced the red soft tyres with the white hard tyres. He came out behind Ocon, who got past Raikkonen in turn one with DRS assistance. Albon also got infront of Raikkonen, overtaking him on the inside of turn four, moving him up to P15.

Verstappen pitted in for a fresh set of mediums tyres on the Red Bull car. The Dutchman was able to get out ahead of the Racing Point pair, following a fantastic 1.9-second pit-stop from the Red Bull crew.

The Mercedes team then had to double-stack as Hamilton and Bottas both pitted for medium tyres. Hamilton came out of the pit still infront, but Bottas slipped down to third.

Then Kevin Magnusson dropped three positions in the space of one sector with Ocon, Albon and Sainz getting past the Haas driver.

But Albon was now on slower performing tyres, which Sainz took advantage of. He moved his McLaren up into the top ten following a fantastic move on the Red Bull driver.

Sergio Perez then pitted which saw him drop behind Carlos Sainz, but he was able to get past the Spaniard in turn one, which moved him up into sixth place.

At the halfway point of the race, Hamilton still led the way, with Verstappen second and Bottas third. Ricciardo was fourth and was yet to stop, the Racing Point pair were in fifth and sixth, Sainz in seventh, Albon in eighth, Ocon in ninth and Gasly in tenth.

Kimi Raikkonen made history in Barcelona. In lap 37, he became the driver who had driven the longest ever distance in the sport.

Leclerc had to retire from the race in Lap 36. The Ferrari driver had complained of the car not working properly when he pitted, and he was right to be concerned, his engine cut out completely which caused him to spin out on the last chicane.

Verstappen pitted in for the second time in there race and got onto the medium tyres with the Dutchman now in some nice clean air.

Bottas then pitted on lap 49 with the Mercedes driver swapping the medium tyre for the soft tyres. However, he dropped behind Verstappen into third.

Sergio Perez was then given a bizarre five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags with the Mexican unaware he recieved the mandatory four blue-flags. Daniil Kvyat would also receive a five-second time penalty for the same reason.

With ten laps left in the race, Hamilton lead a comfortable race with Verstappen and Bottas completing the podium positions. Perez ran in fourth, Vettel in fifth, Stroll in sixth, Sainz in seventh, Albon in eighth, Gasly in ninth and Norris in tenth.

Stroll was able to move past Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, as the German was on very old soft tyres. Sainz then made a very convincing switchback move on Vettel, with the Spanish driver moving up into sixth in his home Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton then posted a 1:19.822 lap-time, but Bottas stole the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:19.750.

But it proved to be insignificant for Hamilton. He put in a dominant display in Barcelona, which saw him finish over 20 seconds ahead of his teammate and Verstappen in second.

Hamilton’s win moves him above Schummacher with the record number of podium finishes, and moves him 37 points clear in the Driver’s Championship.

Final Standings

P1- Lewis Hamilton

P2- Max Verstappen

P3- Valtteri Bottas

P4- Lance Stroll

P5- Sergio Perez

P6- Carlos Sainz

P7- Sebastian Vettel

P8- Alex Albon

P9- Pierre Gasly

P10- Lando Norris

P11- Daniel Ricciardo

P12-Daniil Kvyat

P13- Esteban Ocon

P14- Kimi Raikkonen

P15- Kevin Magnussen

P16- Antonio Giovinazzi

P17- George Russell

P18- Nicholas Latifi

P19- Romain Grosjean

Charles Leclerc was the only retiree with his engine cutting out and electrical issues being the problem the Monegasque driver retired from the race.

Driver Of The Day

Sebastian Vettel deserved Driver of the Day with a great one-stop strategy. The Ferrari driver managed to stretch out his Soft tyre and race on the red tyre for over 30 laps. Started in P11 and finished seventh getting valuable points for the Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.

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