Overview
- Lewis Hamilton won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on Sunday to record his first victory for Ferrari and end a long personal win drought.
- Ferrari brought a major eight-part upgrade for the SF-26 and used new BBS wheel rims that teams and Pirelli say improved tyre thermal management and helped Hamilton sustain strong pace over three stops.
- A Virtual Safety Car on lap 40 allowed Hamilton to pit cheaply and emerge ahead of the Mercedes cars, a strategic moment that decisively changed the race order.
- Kimi Antonelli retired with a power-unit failure late in the race, cutting his championship lead from 68 points to 41 points and handing Hamilton a clear boost in the title fight.
- Mercedes principal Toto Wolff has called driver meetings to address intra-team racing and warned the team must fix recurring reliability problems, a shift that could alter team orders and strategy as the season moves on under the 2026 development reset.