Lewis Hamilton wins maiden GP with Ferrari; Heartbreak for Kimi Antonelli after car failure

Despite being one of the revered teams in Formula 1’s history, Ferrari often find themselves the target of online mockery and memeification.

The famous Italian team has an unfortunate recent history of making bizarre strategy calls, incorrect tyre decisions and confusing radio messages, resulting in missed opportunities and botched race wins.

However, there were no signs of poor strategy calls at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP on Sunday.

Instead, Ferrari executed a flawless three-stop race, allowing Hamilton to snatch the lead from pole-sitter George Russell and cruise to victory.

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya features a mix of high and low-speed corners and the trademark hot weather increases tyre degradation and requires a race strategy with more pit stops.

In a cat and mouse game, Ferrari chose to pit Hamilton early on lap 11, forcing all the other drivers to swarm the pitstop and alter their strategies. The seven-time world champion pitted again on lap 27 and was able to swoop on race leader Russell and snatch the lead with fresher tyres.

A fortuitous virtual safety car, allowed Hamilton to pit a third and final time and cement his maiden victory in red, with Russell finishing in second place and Lando Norris in third.

Hamilton last won a Formula 1 Grand Prix on July 28, 2024, at the Belgian Grand Prix and (excluding a sprint race win) had not tasted victory with Ferrari until today.

“Ciao grazie, thank you so much for helping me achieve this dream,” a euphoric Hamilton said over the radio.

In a post-race interview, Hamilton said the team had brought so many improvements and changes this year and thanked everyone for “never giving up”. The team brought several upgrades to Barcelona.

“And, on top of that, I’ve got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for,” he added

A beaming and emotional Hamilton stood on top of the podium, wiping his eyes with a towel before throwing his trophy up in the air.

However, it was a heartbreaking day for championship leader Kimi Antonelli who had to retire with three laps to go.

The youngster had snatched second place from his teammate Russell after a sensational overtake and battle, but suffered power unit issues and spluttered on to the grass.

His retirement’s granted crucial points to title rival Russell, who said it was “good to be back on the podium”. At the start of the week, Russell was in a 66-point deficit to Antonelli.

The Italian younger still leads the championship, but his lead has been shaved to 48 points after Barcelona.

It was a miserable day for Oscar Piastri who finished in fifth after struggling with pace.

Piastri would have finished in seventh (the same place he started the race) but was aided by Antonelli and Leclerc’s last-minute retirement after power unit failures.

Despite showing some pace in qualifying, Piastri was never able to compete with Mercedes or Ferrari and was marooned in seventh for nearly for the whole race.

Oh my.

The world championship leader Kimi Antonelli is out of the race. After executing a sensational overtake on his teammate George Russell, the young italian’s car splutters and falters.

He goes on to the grass and stops. This is absolute heartbreak for the young Mercedes driver. He will come away with zero points and his teammate and rival Russell, will snatch second place and coveted points.

Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also loses power.

He might be 41-year-old, but Hamilton is showing absolutely no signs of fatigue. He’s built a 13-second lead and is cruising to victory.

Eights laps to go and Hamilton has built a bigger lead – around nine seconds.

Unless something catastrophic happens, the Brit looks close to victory. Now the battle has turned to second place. Russell desperately needs to hold on to second place to claw back points in his championship deficit to Antonelli.

Meanwhile, we’ve just heard a snippet of McLaren’s radio. They tell Lando Norris they’ve reported Antonelli for exceeding track limits more than three times. If that’s true, Antonelli might incur a five-second penalty and Norris might be able to snatch a podium spot.

That safety car has been a gift from the heavens.

Ferrari have called Lewis Hamilton in for a third and final pitstop. The team executed it perfectly and Hamilton emerges in front.

Lewis Hamilton has never won a Grand Prix in red, however he was won sprint races.

George Russell has elbowed his way past Charles Leclerc to snatch second place and is chasing lewis Hamilton for the lead.

This is set to be a really thrilling conclusion.

Wait!

Cameras have just quickly cut to Fernando Alonso who is in the grass. His retirement triggers a yellow flag and a virtual safety car.