Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA

Grand Prix race results: Hamilton beats Verstappen in Spain

Lewis Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona for Mercedes on Sunday, the fourth race of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship season.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21, and the rest of the field on the opening lap

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21, and the rest of the field on the opening lap

Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Hamilton lost his lead at the start, when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pulled a bold first-corner move on him. But Hamilton’s race strategy proved superior when he took an early second pitstop, and chased down Verstappen in the closing stages – easily passing him to take victory.

The second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas was a distant third, his main moment in the race coming as he briefly held up Hamilton while his teammate was chasing down Verstappen.

Read Also:

2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix race results

Cla Driver Laps Time Gap Interval Pits
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
66 1:33'07.680 2
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen
66 1:33'23.521 15.841 15.841 2
3 Finland Valtteri Bottas
66 1:33'34.290 26.610 10.769 2
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc
66 1:34'02.296 54.616 28.006 2
5 Mexico Sergio Perez
66 1:34'11.351 1'03.671 9.055 2
6 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
66 1:34'21.448 1'13.768 10.097 2
7 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
66 1:34'22.350 1'14.670 0.902 2
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris
65 1:33'32.265 1 Lap 1 Lap 2
9 France Esteban Ocon
65 1:33'46.241 1 Lap 13.976 1
10 France Pierre Gasly
65 1:33'46.431 1 Lap 0.190 2
11 Canada Lance Stroll
65 1:33'51.667 1 Lap 5.236 2
12 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
65 1:33'52.826 1 Lap 1.159 1
13 Germany Sebastian Vettel
65 1:33'57.046 1 Lap 4.220 2
14 United Kingdom George Russell
65 1:34'06.452 1 Lap 9.406 2
15 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
65 1:34'08.166 1 Lap 1.714 2
16 Canada Nicholas Latifi
65 1:34'17.872 1 Lap 9.706 3
17 Spain Fernando Alonso
65 1:34'18.194 1 Lap 0.322 2
18 Germany Mick Schumacher
64 1:33'11.392 2 Laps 1 Lap 2
19 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
64 1:34'01.254 2 Laps 49.862 2
Japan Yuki Tsunoda
6 8'49.179 60 Laps 58 Laps

How the Spanish Grand Prix unfolded

From pole position Hamilton led the charge to Turn 1, where Verstappen dived down his inside and grabbed the lead, easing Lewis wide on the corner exit. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc passed Bottas around the outside of Turn 3 for third, with Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) next up.

Read Also:

Verstappen quickly pulled out of DRS range to Hamilton, as Bottas toiled to find a way past Leclerc. The race was neutralized with a safety car on Lap 8 when the engine of Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri cut-out at Turn 10.

Hamilton was unable to get a run on Verstappen at the restart, while Lance Stroll moved his Aston Martin past Fernando Alonso’s Alpine at Turn 5 for tenth place.

Hamilton set fastest lap to get into DRS range of Verstappen at one-third distance, as the pitstop cycle approached. Bottas was the first of the top five to pit, with Verstappen stopping a lap later – as Hamilton, having got to within half a second of the leader, stayed out.

Read Also:

Verstappen suffered a slow stop, with both left-side tyres being slow to emerge from the garage due to his late call, losing him 2s to Hamilton. However, Hamilton then lost time while lapping the Haas of Nikita Mazepin – which negated his virtual lead over Verstappen. Bottas’s early stop undercut Leclerc for third place.

Hamilton ran several laps longer on the soft tyres he started on, and although he rejoined well behind, his new mediums were four laps fresher. Hamilton slashed the gap to Verstappen and was right on his tail again just after half distance, and despite getting into his DRS range, wasn’t able to get close enough to make a move.

Mercedes opted to pit Hamilton again on Lap 43, which proved crucial to his win. Verstappen stayed out, holding a 23s lead at that point as Red Bull put its strategy on Hamilton not repeating his charge to victory in the 2019 Hungarian GP in similar circumstances.

During Hamilton's chase, Bottas held up him for half a lap, losing him valuable laptime to Verstappen, and Bottas then pitted anyway for soft tyres. That meant he had to repass Leclerc with eight laps remaining.

With ten laps to go, Hamilton got the gap down to Verstappen under 7s, and was lapping almost 2s per lap faster. Hamilton got into DRS range on Lap 59 and passed him at the first attempt at Turn 1 a lap later.

Read Also:

Verstappen then pitted for fresh softs in a successful bid to take fastest lap – albeit 22s behind Hamilton at that point. Verstappen finished 15s in arrears, with Bottas 10s further back and Leclerc in fourth.

Perez pulled a superb around-the-outside move on Ricciardo at Turn 1 to take fifth. Later on, Ricciardo and Sainz both passed Ocon in the final stint to claim sixth and seventh respectively. Norris also passed the fading Ocon for eighth.

The battle for the final point was intense, as Stroll and Alonso clashed at Turn 1 – with Stroll finally making a move stick there with four laps to go. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly then passed Stroll to snatch the point, this despite a 5s penalty for lining up ahead of his grid spot.

2021 Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla Driver Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen
62 1'18.149 215.357
2 Finland Valtteri Bottas
65 1'19.430 1.281 1.281 211.884
3 Mexico Sergio Perez
60 1'19.483 1.334 0.053 211.743
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc
64 1'20.459 2.310 0.976 209.174
5 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
54 1'20.665 2.516 0.206 208.640
6 Spain Fernando Alonso
63 1'21.182 3.033 0.517 207.311
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris
56 1'21.279 3.130 0.097 207.064
8 France Pierre Gasly
64 1'21.375 3.226 0.096 206.820
9 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
53 1'21.568 3.419 0.193 206.330
10 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
60 1'21.853 3.704 0.285 205.612
11 Canada Lance Stroll
47 1'22.607 4.458 0.754 203.735
12 Germany Mick Schumacher
54 1'22.637 4.488 0.030 203.661
13 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
42 1'22.802 4.653 0.165 203.255
14 Germany Sebastian Vettel
56 1'22.820 4.671 0.018 203.211
15 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
54 1'22.868 4.719 0.048 203.094
16 Canada Nicholas Latifi
57 1'22.905 4.756 0.037 203.003
17 United Kingdom George Russell
30 1'23.208 5.059 0.303 202.264
18 France Esteban Ocon
46 1'23.311 5.162 0.103 202.014
19 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
45 1'24.040 5.891 0.729 200.261
20 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
5 1'24.825 6.676 0.785 198.408

2021 Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix tyre history

Cla Driver 1 2 3 4
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
S 32 M 14 M 30
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen
S 27 M 36 S 6
3 Finland Valtteri Bottas
S 26 M 30 S 16
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc
S 31 M 30 S 11
5 Mexico Sergio Perez
S 30 M 30 S 12
6 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
S 28 M 21 S 21
7 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
S 25 M 24 S 23
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris
S 26 M 28 S 17
9 France Esteban Ocon
S 26 M 42
10 France Pierre Gasly
S 18 M 29 S 18
11 Canada Lance Stroll
S 22 M 17 S 29
12 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
M 37 S 28
13 Germany Sebastian Vettel
S 21 M 17 S 30
14 United Kingdom George Russell
S 9 M 19 M 37
15 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
S 8 M 34 S 29
16 Canada Nicholas Latifi
S 9 M 18 M 23 S 18
17 Spain Fernando Alonso
S 24 M 40 S 7
18 Germany Mick Schumacher
S 23 M 27 M 14
19 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
S 22 M 20 M 22
Japan Yuki Tsunoda
S 6

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation

Related video

Previous article Verstappen felt like "sitting duck" against Hamilton in Spain
Next article Alfa Romeo explains disastrous Giovinazzi pitstop

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA