Lewis Hamilton ran a Mercedes pit stop game by overtaking rival Max Verstappen by just six laps to win a breathless Spanish Grand Prix.
Amilton seemed to have missed his chance at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona when he was left out on old rubber four laps longer than his rival.
But Mercedes took Red Bull by surprise, stopping Hamilton for the second time, leaving the world champion 24 laps behind to overcome a 22-second deficit.
A faultless Hamilton delivered his lead over Verstappen to 14 points with a professional comeback. Valtteri Bottas was third for Mercedes.
“It’s been a long road, but a good game and really great strategy from the team,” said Hamilton.
“A one-stop is very hard to achieve and I was just about to try to get past it before pitting a second time. I had a conflict but I did what the team asked and that’s because there is great trust. ” It’s a remarkable job for everyone on this team. What a day. ”
Hamilton started the race on his rear foot after losing the lead in the first corner.
Hamilton wasn’t exactly sluggish from his grades, but the world champion offered his title rival an opening on corner one and Verstappen didn’t need a second invitation.
More stiff and bolder on the brakes, Verstappen started his Red Bull inside Hamilton’s Mercedes. Hamilton turned to the right-handed man and came within millimeters to contact Verstappen before conceding the position.
A safety car was deployed on lap nine after Yuki Tsunoda collapsed at Turn 10. When the race resumed two laps later, Verstappen left Hamilton behind to keep the lead.
From then on, Hamilton was on the heels of the Englishman, who was only half a second behind when Verstappen blinked first and stopped on lap 24 because of tires. But the Red Bull crew only managed to screw on Verstappen’s left rear tire slowly – his car seemed to hand over the initiative to Hamilton and Mercedes.
However, Hamilton missed four more laps and with Verstappen on fresh rubber, who drove faster than his rival, any advantage of the world champion was lost.
When Hamilton came out of the pits on lap 28, he was six seconds behind. Hamilton then had an indictment and was back in the Dutchman’s gear within a few laps.
With overtaking on this track, which is one of the most difficult on the calendar, Mercedes caused a surprise when he called Hamilton for a second stop with 24 laps of the race. “How far do I have to catch up?” said a breathless Hamilton.
“Currently 22 seconds,” replied race engineer Pete Bonnington. “We did it before,” he added, referring to the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix when Hamilton played at a second pit stop and overtook Verstappen by just three laps.
Verstappen, who now had to take care of his rubber on the flag, gradually felt the pressure. “I don’t see how we can make it to the end,” he said with 18 laps left.
Bottas, who was out of sync with Hamilton and finished second, was then ordered out of his teammate’s path.
“Lewis is fighting for a win, we are pursuing a different strategy than him,” said the Finn on lap 50. One lap later, Bottas was told: “Don’t hold Lewis up.”
Bottas has obeyed team orders so many times, but he didn’t make it easy for Hamilton as the Englishman had to sneak past on left-handed turn 10 and probably lost time chasing Verstappen.
But he followed Verstappen at over 200 mph before jinking to the left of his helpless rival and sailing around the outside for the 98th win of his jaw-dropping career.
BARCELONA RESULT
Final result of the Spanish Grand Prix (66 laps): 1 Mercedes GP from Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) 1 hour 33 minutes 07.680 seconds, 2 Red Bull from Max Verstappen (Ned) at 15.841 seconds, 3 Mercedes GP from Valtteri Bottas (Fin) at 26,610, 4 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari at 54,616, 5 Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull at 1 minute 03,671 seconds, 6 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) McLaren at 1: 13,768, 7 Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spa) Ferrari at 1: 14,670, 8 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren in 1 lap, 9 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine in 1 lap, 10 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia AlphaTauri in 1 lap, 11 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin in 1 lap, 12 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing in 1 lap, 13 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Aston Martin in 1 lap, 14 George Russell (Gbr) Williams in 1 lap, 15 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing in 1 lap, 16 Nicholas Latifi (Can) Williams in 1 lap, 17 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Alpine in 1 lap, 18 Mick Schumacher (Ger) Haas F1 in 2 laps, 19 Nikita Mazepin (Raf) Haas F1 in 2 runs the
Not classified: Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Scuderia AlphaTauri completed 6 laps
Fastest lap: Verstappen 1 minute, 18,149 seconds on lap 62
World Championship Standings Drivers: 1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) 94pts, 2 Max Verstappen (Ned) 80, 3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) 47, 4 Lando Norris (Gbr) 41, 5 Charles Leclerc (Mon) 40, 6 Sergio Perez (Mex ) 32, 7 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) 24, 8 Carlos Sainz Jr (Spa) 20, 9 Esteban Ocon (Fra) 10, 10 Pierre Gasly (Fra) 8, 11 Lance Stroll (Can) 5, 12 Fernando Alonso (Spa) 5, 13 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) 2, 14 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) 0, 15 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) 0, 16 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) 0, 17 George Russell (Gbr) 0, 18 Mick Schumacher (Ger) 0, 19 Nicholas Latifi (Can) 0, 20 Nikita Mazepin (Raf) 0
Manufacturer: 1 Mercedes GP 141 points, 2 Red Bull 112, 3 McLaren 65, 4 Ferrari 60, 5 Alpine 15, 6 Scuderia AlphaTauri 10, 7 Aston Martin 5, 8 Alfa Romeo Racing 0, 9 Williams 0, 10 Haas F1 0
Belfast Telegraph
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