Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix: Welcome back Sir Lewis Hamilton, win 106 and in a Ferrari

Sunday in Barcelona proved that fairy tales do happen in F1 as Hamilton, in his second season with Ferrari, after a nightmare first season in 2025, bounced back in style and took his first win in Red as he also ended Mercedes' winning streak in 2026.

While he missed out on pole in Qualifying on Saturday, Hamilton's second place on the starting grid meant he put polesitter George Russell under pressure from the start as Ferrari committed to a three stop strategy from the starting starting the Briton on the Softs to give him a decent change to jump the #63 Mercedes at the start.

While Hamilton did not have the start he was hoping for and just managed to keep a fast-starting Kimi Antonelli at bay from third, he and Ferrari remained cool and stuck to the plan.

The order after the start was: Russell - Hamilton - Antonelli - Lando Norris - Max Verstappen - Oscar Piastri - Charles Leclerc - Liam Lawson - Nico Hulkenberg - Arvid Lindblad.

The race went on as a procession from there on until Hamilton pitted first at Lap 11 which pushed Mercedes to cover him after which Russell retained the lead.

But then Ferrari wet aggressive and pitted Hamilton on Lap 28, put him on Mediums as he started closing the gap of Russell who stayed out.

When Russell finally pitted for his second time on Lap 37, Hamilton took the lead but had to stop again with a chance to attack the Briton at the end.

But then, Fernando Alonso parked his car on the side of the track at Turn 9 which brought out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) which Ferrari grabbed and pit Hamilton for the third time as he emerged in the lead.

From there, and despite a brief scar with a Yellow flag infringement which did not stick, Hamilton went on building the gap in the lead.

Russell was dropping back and under pressure from Antonelli who finally passed him on Lap 61.

But then fate intervened as Antonelli started slowing down on track, his W17 deciding to call it a day with four laps remaining.

The VSC was out again as Leclerc suffered from a power steering issue and retired.

After that, Hamilton brought his SF-26 home taking the win with Russell following in second as Norris inherited third place from Antonelli.

Behind the top three, Verstappen took fourth in the Red Bull Racing RB22 after an anonymous race which concluded a tough weekend for the Dutchman as his team who simply could not get their car working around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Piastri was fifth in the second McLaren ahead of Isack Hadjar who was sixth in the second RB22. The Frenchman dropped nine place down the order at the start but managed to come back and score points.

Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto came seventh and eighth respectively for Alpine after benefitting from the VSC.

Lawson was ninth in the Racing Bulls ahead of teammate Arvid Lindblad who took the final point on the decent day for the Faenza team.

After taking his first win since 2024 and his seventh in Barcelona, a breathless Hamilton said: "First I have to start and say a huge grazie to everyone here.

"My team here at Ferrari, everyone back at the factory. Fred for believing in me and bringing me to this team.

"I started out a dream which seemed almost impossible during my time last year but we never gave up hope and the team continued to lift me up. We made so many changes and we made so many improvements.

"On top of that, I have got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for and so thank you to everybody," he added.

"They are all special in their own way but this one is something else," he responded when asked how a 106th win in a Ferrari felt. "I watched Ferrari have all that success when I was younger, watching it on TV.

"As I've been racing here, I'd always watched the screens and wondered what it would be like to win in that car - and it's come," he concluded.

Russell may not have won, but has reduced the gap to Antonelli by 18 points, he commented: "Huge congrats to Lewis. I know how hard he works.

"We spent a lot of years together at Mercedes so I'm really pleased to see him back to the Lewis I remember when I was growing up.

"A tough day. It's good to be back on the podium and have a bit of a clean race from my side.

"Ferrari were mighty impressive today and we need to keep on pushing," Russell went on. "Friday and Saturday were strong and solid.

"Today was a bit more challenging. Everything started well and I felt good in the first stint. The last two stints were more difficult.

"As I said, it's good to be back here," Russell insisted.

Norris was happy to take third, he said: "First of all, I want to congratulate Lewis. Nice to see him back on top, so very happy for you, mate.

"It was a tough race. I did my best to keep up with these guys, but too quick, so we stayed there.

"We gave ourselves a chance if anything happened and we obviously got a bit lucky with Antonelli going out, but otherwise very happy for the team and very happy to be back on the podium. A good day for us.

"We're doing a good job as a team. I think we're making good progress, but these guys are just doing a better job.

"So we have to give credit to them and admit that to ourselves, that we've got to keep working hard, got to keep putting in the effort.

"The whole team are doing it, so I'm, I'm very happy with them. We've just got to keep eyes down and keep working and we'll be there soon," the reigning F1 Champion concluded.