Lewis Hamilton earns maiden Ferrari win in Barcelona but Antonelli fails to finish | Formula One 2026

Lewis Hamilton triumphed at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix with a magnificent drive, ending his long wait for a maiden Ferrari victory.

The seven-time world champion ended a sequence of 41 grands prix without a win and denied his compatriot, second-placed George Russell of Mercedes, who was outmanoeuvred by Ferrari’s decisive three-stop strategy and his teammate, Kimi Antonelli.

There was intense drama behind Hamilton as he streaked to victory with Antonelli and Russell fighting for second place. Seconds after thrillingly overtaking Russell with five laps remaining, the Italian was forced to retire due to an “electrical shutdown”. Lando Norris of McLaren, the defending world champion, consequently rounded out the first all-British podium since 1968.

“Grazie a tutti, thank you so much. You’ve helped me achieve this dream and I can’t thank you enough,” Hamilton said to his team on radio, seconds after taking the chequered flag in the Barcelona heat. “To my family, I love you. To the fans, thank you for continuing to remind me who I am.”

Hamilton is 41 points behind Antonelli in the drivers’ championship – Russell is a further nine points back – and the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, does not relish a potential fight for the title with his former long-term Mercedes ally.

“I’d rather not fight with him for a title because I know what he’s capable of,” Wolff said. “If he smells blood, he goes. I’ve seen it many years where suddenly the Lewis Hamilton train started to go, and it’s very difficult to stop it.”

Hamilton’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, having fought back from 10th on the grid after a qualifying crash, also retired late in the race due to what Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, suspected was a hydraulic issue.

Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar of Red Bull were fourth and sixth respectively, with Oscar Piastri in fifth for McLaren and Pierre Gasly seventh for Alpine, backing up his third place in Monaco last Sunday.

After a strong start from pole position, Russell was unable to capitalise on his fierce practice and qualifying pace. He and Wolff suspected tyre degradation, on a circuit famous for high-speed corners, was the reason he faded. “This would be my instinctive answer,” Wolff said. “But we need to analyse it.”

Ferrari’s three-stop strategy proved a masterstroke, with a virtual safety car for Fernando Alonso in the 41st lap also playing into the hands of the Italian marque, enabling Hamilton to assume the lead before speeding away on fresher tyres.

After being frustrated yet again in a difficult season, Russell said: “I made a great start, the first stint was solid, but the last two stints on the hard [tyres] wasn’t good enough. I’m coming out of this race thinking the performance was not strong enough … I’m going to control the controllables and keep trying to apply pressure.”

Of the pivotal pit-stop strategy Russell said: “I think I could have just mirrored his [Hamilton’s] strategy on the three-stop, but that could have left me exposed to Kimi on the two-stop. I need to go through it with my team.”

The venue was sold out, with 301,273 fans packing into the Circuit de Catalunya across the weekend, and 124,870 attending Sunday’s big race. Formula One may have its issues, a fact demonstrated by the Monaco pit lane speeding saga in recent days, but a lack of interest from the paying public is not one of them.

Novak Djokovic was strolling around the starting grid in the standard pre-race scrum moments before Russell executed a perfect start and held off Hamilton, starting second, into turn one, with Antonelli close behind the British rivals.

Russell took control as the top five initially stayed in order: Russell, Hamilton, Antonelli, then Norris and Verstappen. The big mover was Leclerc, on a mission after crashing out in qualifying. By lap 10 he had gained four places to sixth having skilfully overtaken Piastri. Hadjar, after a terrible start, had plunged to 13th.

Russell had built a lead of more than three seconds before the pit stops began, but halfway through a race that had looked a potential procession, Russell and Antonelli were suddenly duking it out for the lead.

Verstappen, as well as Hamilton, opted for a three-stop strategy that ensured the British driver – who won five consecutive races here from 2017‑21 – took the lead with 42 of 66 laps raced. “It’s the critical moment. We have our chance,” Hamilton had been told by his team.

Once in front Hamilton drove immaculately, leading Russell by 13 seconds with eight laps to go and finally winning by 19.561sec. As Hamilton streaked away Antonelli and Russell continued their dramatic scrap and the Italian pulled off a thrilling overtaking move after being forced wide by Russell before turn one.

No sooner had Antonelli taken second place he was grinding to a halt, with damage visible to his front wing: although Mercedes said the electrical shutdown ended his race. Leclerc suffered late heartbreak, too. But at this rate a resurgent Hamilton, as Wolff fears, may sniff his eighth world title.