What Barcelona’s scorching and humid struggle of tyre attrition lacked in on-track motion, it made up for in storylines. Sunday’s initially languid race grew to become one to recollect because of the revival of an all-time nice, and poetic justice that offered the newest twist in an intriguing Formulation 1 title marketing campaign.
The day belongs to none apart from Lewis Hamilton as he information his 106th grand prix win, his first in two full years, and crucially his maiden grand prix victory for Ferrari. It may’t be understated how deep Hamilton sunk in direction of the tip of a soul destroying 2025 maiden marketing campaign together with his new employer, with the 41-year-old admitting there have been doubts on whether or not he nonetheless had the fitting stuff.
However following a revitalising low season, Ferrari was in a position to give him the automotive and engineering workforce he might gel with, and the result’s a driver reborn, firing on all cylinders alongside a speedy Charles Leclerc. As Ferrari rolled out a second spectacular batch of upgrades in Barcelona, what it’s nonetheless missing in outright one-lap tempo it’s seemingly making up for in superior tyre administration on a scorching and demanding Barcelona format.
However that’s all tutorial. What issues for the narrative of Hamilton’s profession is that it’ll not exit on a tragic whimper, as many feared when he exchanged silver for scarlet. And what issues for the narrative of the 2026 marketing campaign is that Ferrari is standing as much as Mercedes.
Loser: Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
A few weeks after George Russell suffered a brutal retirement in Montreal, Antonelli now additionally is aware of the way it feels to be dealt an enormous championship blow by no fault of his personal. Simply because it appeared like he was going to land one other blow to Russell, Antonelli needed to park his Mercedes with energy unit hassle, inflicting a 21-point swing within the championship in comparison with his team-mate.
You can see some poetic justice in each Mercedes drivers struggling one energy unit failure every throughout a race, however that is not how Mercedes will view it. For the workforce, it is one other huge haul of factors down the drain on account of reliability woes. And amid a surging Ferrari that’s the very last thing the Silver Arrows wants.
Picture by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
Winner: George Russell
Today might have been fairly ugly for Russell. Struggling for tempo and steadiness as quickly as he went onto the onerous tyres, his robust second half of the race left him obliterated by Hamilton, who used an aggressive three-stop to work his well past and sure would have had the tempo benefit to take action with no handily time digital security automotive.
Russell’s struggles made him susceptible towards team-mate and title rival Antonelli, and after Antonelli’s clear indication he had loads of tempo in hand, Mercedes chief Toto Wolff could nicely have had a couple of Barcelona 2016 flashbacks. His present driver pairing stored it clear, although, however quickly after passing Russell, Antonelli retired with extra engine hassle to supply the newest twist in what has been an odd title battle thus far.
Russell was handed an enormous reprieve, which made him come out of the Barcelona weekend because the mathematical winner. However after being a contact forward of Antonelli all weekend, he will probably be dying to know what went so fallacious for him in the course of the race.
When Fernando Alonso speaks, it is all the time prudent to take his feedback with a pinch of salt, because the wily Spaniard enjoys taking part in video games with the press. However his suggestion that the 2026 Barcelona race goes to be his final on the Catalan venue might be not a lot of a revelation, as F1 will not return right here earlier than 2028- by which era the evergreen two-time champ will probably be 46 occurring 47.
It would not shut the door utterly on one other surprising profession twist – he has been linked with Alpine for what be an unprecedented fourth stint – however in any case Alonso’s selection for would-be superteam Aston Martin has not precisely panned out and it is clear Alonso is carrying it, rising ever extra annoyed and irritated with the media and the scenario he is in.
Carlos Sainz could have loved extra success lately, however Alonso continues to be the nation’s unique F1 hero, as evidenced by the hordes of native donning British racing inexperienced which the Austrian went to greet on the parade lap. They did not get a lot to cheer about. After qualifying twenty second and useless final, behind Stroll and the Cadillacs, Alonso joined team-mate Lance Stroll in a untimely retirement with a “battery challenge”.
Regardless of the adulation, one of many best drivers of the fashionable period deserved a greater Barcelona swansong.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Picture by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
Winner: Alpine
Earlier than the race, the type folks over at Alpine would have bitten your hand off for a double factors end. Workforce Enstone appeared appreciated it was on the ropes, with no actual understanding why its tempo was so poor round Barcelona. The A526 was robust unpredictable and difficult to tame all weekend, even prompting Pierre Gasly to attempt a brand new chassis after Friday apply however to no avail as he and Franco Colapinto certified on the seventh row.
Its race tempo wasn’t essentially unbelievable, however extra aggressive than its one-lap pace because the pair moved up the order, helped by some attrition forward and a helpful VSC pitstop for Gasly to change to the onerous tyres
“If somebody had advised me on Friday that we’d end in P7 within the race, then I positively would have signed up for that,” Gasly stated. “I’m very happy with right now’s race the place we just about did the whole lot proper and put ourselves in competition to attain factors.”
The one blot on Alpine’s race was an pointless 10-second penalty for Colapinto for not sufficiently respecting a yellow flag, which ended up demoting him from eighth to tenth. But it surely was nonetheless the most effective of the remaining in F1’s packed midfield.
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Workforce
Picture by: Andy Hone/ LAT Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
Common readers of this column could bear in mind sightings of the cartoon anvil that stored chasing Alonso round in 2025. It’s miles too charitable to Aston Martin and Honda to ascribe their present woes to dangerous luck, however the cartoon anvil did make a grand return in Barcelona because it struck Aston’s neighbours at Audi, the place Nico Hulkenberg suffered one of the crucial weird and unfortunate retirements we have ever seen.
Whereas on his technique to lastly add some much-needed factors to Audi’s tally, Hulkenberg’s automotive shut down  when a chunk of gravel kicked up by Liam Lawson hit the German’s Audi proper on the ERS kill change, a change which is meant to show off the automotive in case of emergency. It’s simply brutal luck for Hulkenberg after a weekend on which Audi was trying like a aggressive drive within the midfield.
Pictures from Barcelona-Catalunya GP – Sunday
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