2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP - full analysis with Peter Windsor

This day in Spain will famously be remembered for the first Ferrari victory scored by Sir Lewis Hamilton.  And it was no gift.  After starting from the front row and splitting the two factory Mercedes in the early race phase, Lewis dramatically chose to make a second tyre change - to medium Pirellis -  at the perfect moment. His mid-race pace on the softer tyres quickly elevated him to the front when the Mercs stopped for their second set of hards - and Lewis always seemed likely to be there at the finish, despite a third pit stop that was looming.  Then fate stepped in - just as it had in Abu Dhabi, 2021, when Nicholas Latiffi's retirement brought out the Safety Car.  On this occasion, Fernando Alonso stopped his slow Aston Martin-Honda at T9; Ferrari missed an immediate pit stop but the Virtual Safety Car conditions were still current as Lewis came round again.  He emerged from the pit lane just in front of George Russell's Mercedes. Head down on slightly newer Pirelli hards, Lewis then drove away to win by the astounding margin of 19.5sec.  Kimi Antonelli passed Russell in a sensational move with six laps to go...but then stopped on track with a dead engine.  Russell thus finished second, ahead of McLaren-Mercedes' Lando Norris, Red Bull-RBPT Ford's Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren and Isack Hadjar in the second Red Bull.  Peter Windsor in this video looks back at a red-letter day in Spain - in every sense of the word.
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Images: Pirelli, Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren
Music: Science Montage -Jeremy Blake; Rain over Kyoto Station - the Mini Vandals
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