Lewis Hamilton comfortably won the Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes secured their first 1-2 finish ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the Cercuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
Hamilton and Valterri Bottas started from P1 and P2 after Mercedes locked out the front row for the first time this season, but Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel quickly split the two Mercedes drivers by overtaking Bottas inside the first corner.
Hamilton was never really under pressure from Vettel, but carnage ensued behind the front-runners when Romain Grosjean spun at turn three, which saw him collide with Nico Hulkenburg and Pierre Gasly. The safety car was deployed as the marshalls scrambled to clear the track and remove the damaged cars.
The most dramatic moment of the race 😬
Three cars eliminated after just three corners at the #SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/x9WlKHJLlY
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 13, 2018
After six laps behind the safety car, Hamilton timed his restart perfectly to gain a two-second lead over Vettel as most of the drivers struggled to get their tyres up to temperature.
With Hamilton extending his lead over Vettel, Ferarri then tried the ‘undercut’ by pitting him on lap 18. Mercedes left Bottas out on the track for another two laps as Vettel was stuck behind the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, but a slow pit-stop meant that he emerged behind the Ferarri.
On lap 25, disaster struck for Ferrari as Kimi Räikönnen had to retire due to a mechanical failure.
Mercedes decided to pit Hamilton the following lap. He emerged behind Verstappen, who hadn’t stopped yet, which meant he was in full control of the race.
When Verstappen pitted on lap 36, it meant that Hamilton had a clear track ahead of him with a 10-second lead over Vettel and Bottas a further two seconds behind in third.
The virtual safety car (VSC) was deployed on lap 42 when Esteban Ocon pulled over due to an issue to his power unit. Vettel gambled and pitted for a second time, but his stop was quick enough and he emerged behind Verstappen, who moved into a podium place.
Verstappen lost part of his front wing when he ran into the back of Lance Stroll when the VSC was ending, but that had no impact on his speed as Vettel could not catch him.
Hamilton was in cruise-control for the rest of the race and took the chequered flag for the second consecutive race, while Bottas and Verstappen completed the podium.
Race Clasification:
Photo: Juan Medina/Reuters
