Hamilton wins in Barcelona – Vettel not on the podium

Thwarted by the strategy chaos at Ferrari and a risky maneuver in the first corner, Vettel crossed the finish line a distant fourth at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. Defending champion Hamilton won his third Barcelona victory in a row and took the championship lead from his second-placed Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. The Dutchman Max Verstappen came third.

Vettel is still waiting for his first win of the season and is lagging behind in the World Cup rankings after the 5th of 21st races of the season. Before the classic in Monaco in two weeks, the 31-year-old German is only in fourth place and is already 4 points behind Hamilton after his third win of the season and the 48th Grand Prix victory of his career. What was also annoying for Vettel was that Ferrari acted tactically unwise on several occasions and sent him and his stable rival Charles Leclerc into unnecessary skirmishes with each other. In the end, the young Monegasque came in 3th behind the German.

Vettel's plan doesn't work On the track where Ferrari had dominated the winter tests and raised hopes of a much-desired season of triumph, Vettel practically only had one chance to attack and overtake the two Mercedes with a maneuver. At the start. So the Hessian tried exactly that. He got off to a very good start, the only problem was that Hamilton got up to speed even faster. The Brit passed Bottas on the inside, whose third pole in a row was history again just seconds after the red lights went out.

The initial attack took a further toll. Vettel had to brake heavily and damaged the right front tire. Vettel then complained about vibrations.

Lewis Hamilton drove a lonely race. Within a very short time he pulled away from the rebellious Bottas, who started the fifth race of the season as the championship leader with a one-point advantage. Things didn't really get tricky between the two on the track where the stable duel between Hamilton and his then German colleague Nico Rosberg escalated three years ago when both of them cleared each other off the track. Hamilton confidently At the halfway point of what was possibly the last Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya, Hamilton was leading by around eight seconds. Verstappen did his laps between the Silver Arrows and the Ferraris quite undisturbed. Vettel now struggled to get past Leclerc again, whom the team had already slowed down twice in favor of Vettel in the previous four races. At the team's behest, Vettel, who had to change the tires again, passed Leclerc on the outside on the 36th of 66 laps.

Vettel started again with the fresh set of tires, Bottas also got new rubber, before a crash involving Lando Norris in the McLaren and Lance Stroll caused a safety car phase. Ideal for Hamilton: Now he also had new tires fitted, the old ones were already blistering.

The field got closer together for the restart, Hamilton cleverly picked up the pace in front of a chicane after the safety car had driven back into the pits. Ultimately, the top drivers held their positions at the front and Hamilton brought his car to the finish without any problems.

Spanish GP result Pos Name racing team Time 1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:35.50,442 hours 2. Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +4.074 seconds 3. Max Verstappen Red Bull +7,679 4. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +9,167 5. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +13,361 6. Pierre Gasly Red Bull +19,576 7. Kevin Magnussen Haas +28,159 8. Carlos Sainz jr. McLaren +32,342 9. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso +33,056 10. Romain Grosjean Haas +34,641

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Hamilton wins in Barcelona – Vettel not on the podium

Sebastian Vettel's title plans may have failed early on after Lewis Hamilton's fifth Formula 1 double success for the record Silver Arrows.

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