Overview
- Lewis Hamilton delivered his first Grand Prix win for Ferrari on Sunday at Barcelona, recording the 106th victory of his career and ending Ferrari’s 34-race win drought.
- Ferrari ran an aggressive three-stop plan that became decisive when a Virtual Safety Car caused by Fernando Alonso’s stoppage allowed Hamilton to pit and rejoin in the lead.
- Mercedes suffered late-race reliability problems that forced championship leader Kimi Antonelli to retire from a podium position and prompted team principal Toto Wolff to criticize the team’s reliability and strategy.
- The result moved Hamilton to 115 points and cut his deficit to Antonelli to 41 points, a change that has already shortened bookmakers’ odds on Hamilton for the title.
- Charles Leclerc crashed in Q3, started 10th and later retired, underscoring the swing of fortune for front-runners and leaving reliability and strategy as the key issues to watch in the championship fight.