After 31 attempts, countless doubters, a miserable 2025 season, and almost two years without a win, the seven-time world champion finally did it for Ferrari. His victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was more than just a result — it was a statement that one of the sport’s greatest careers still has chapters left to write.
“I started out with a dream which seemed almost impossible during last year. We never gave up hope and the team just continued to lift me up.”
— Lewis Hamilton, post-race
My favourite part of the day, Lewis Hamilton unable to hold back tears witnessing Scuderia Ferrari sing the Italian National Anthem from the top step of an F1 podium
pic.twitter.com/3VzM9h145b
— sim
(@simscircuit) June 14, 2026
On his team radio coming into the pits, an emotional Hamilton switched to Italian to thank the Scuderia, before saying: “You’ve helped me achieve this dream and I can’t thank you enough.”
Strategy Wins the Race
Hamilton started second on the grid, having split the two Mercedes in qualifying — a decent position, but Ferrari’s soft tyre choice at the start left him unable to fight for the lead on the opening lap. Russell led early, and it looked like the Silver Arrows were going to run their race to plan.
But Ferrari had other ideas.
While Mercedes committed to a two-stop strategy, Ferrari pivoted early to a three-stopper for Hamilton, cycling him through tyres more aggressively. The move kept him close without ever asking him to push tyre performance past its limits in the searing Barcelona heat. By lap 42, he had built a 16-second cushion over the chasing pack.
Then Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin ground to a halt at Turn 9, triggering a Virtual Safety Car. Ferrari pounced immediately, calling Hamilton in for an early third stop. When he rejoined, he had fresher hard tyres than anyone in front — and he made the most of them.
Russell, who had led for much of the race, later admitted Hamilton probably would have won regardless. “The three-stop was just looking so powerful,” the Mercedes driver acknowledged.
Antonelli’s Retirement Changes Everything
With five laps to go, Kimi Antonelli did something he hadn’t done all season — he failed to finish. The championship leader, who had been on a streak of five consecutive race victories, passed Russell for second place, only for a mechanical failure to end his afternoon moments later.
It handed Russell second and Norris third, but the bigger picture was the title standings. Antonelli’s retirement meant Hamilton clawed back 25 points, cutting the gap between them to 41 points. A gap that, until Sunday, had felt comfortable for the young Mercedes driver.
“I definitely will take it. There is a long, long way to go and they’ve still got great pace. But it’s not over, that’s for sure.”
— Hamilton on his title chances
The moment of victory! #F1 #BarcelonaGP @LewisHamilton pic.twitter.com/ET9mkIA9MC
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 14, 2026
Why This Win Was 18 Months in the Making
Hamilton’s 2025 season with Ferrari was his worst in Formula 1 by some distance. He failed to reach a single podium in a full-length race — a first in his career — and admitted there were moments the criticism got to him deeply.
What changed for 2026 was a combination of things. New regulations brought in cars that suit Hamilton’s style much better — vehicles that move around more under braking, which plays to his strengths attacking corners. Ferrari also made internal adjustments, including a change of race engineer, with Carlo Santi stepping in and quickly building a strong working relationship with Hamilton.
The team also brought a major upgrade package to Barcelona — eight specific development areas, from a revised front wing to an entirely updated floor. Norris, who is never short of a direct opinion, said Ferrari were “class leaders in cornering speeds” after qualifying, and after the race went further, saying that with a better engine Ferrari “would be dominating.”
Ferrari’s power deficit on the straights remains a genuine weakness, but at Barcelona that barely mattered when they were pulling away through the twisty middle sector.
A Moment Decades in the Making
Hamilton noted after the race that it was almost 30 years to the day since Michael Schumacher scored his first win for Ferrari at this very circuit back in 1996. Hamilton said he remembered watching that race as a 12-year-old, plate of food on his lap, looking at the red car and wondering what it must feel like to sit inside it.
He found out on Sunday.
This was win number 106 of his Formula 1 career and the first for Ferrari in 595 days — the last being Carlos Sainz’s victory in Mexico City in October 2024. It also made Hamilton the first British driver to win for the Scuderia since Eddie Irvine at the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix.
On Instagram after the race, he posted “REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE.” In a second post, he wrote that he “can’t begin to describe how amazing it feels to finally win in red” and called it “only the beginning.”
RACE RESULT
1. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
2. George Russell (Mercedes)
3. Lando Norris (McLaren)
4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)