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Formula 1 Spanish GP
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.
Charles Bradley
Edited: May 9, 2021, 6:23 PM
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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.
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2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix race results
Cla Driver Laps Time Gap Interval Pits 1 Lewis Hamilton
66 1:33'07.680 2 2 Max Verstappen
66 1:33'23.521 15.841 15.841 2 3 Valtteri Bottas
66 1:33'34.290 26.610 10.769 2 4 Charles Leclerc
66 1:34'02.296 54.616 28.006 2 5 Sergio Perez
66 1:34'11.351 1'03.671 9.055 2 6 Daniel Ricciardo
66 1:34'21.448 1'13.768 10.097 2 7 Carlos Sainz Jr.
66 1:34'22.350 1'14.670 0.902 2 8 Lando Norris
65 1:33'32.265 1 Lap 1 Lap 2 9 Esteban Ocon
65 1:33'46.241 1 Lap 13.976 1 10 Pierre Gasly
65 1:33'46.431 1 Lap 0.190 2 11 Lance Stroll
65 1:33'51.667 1 Lap 5.236 2 12 Kimi Raikkonen
65 1:33'52.826 1 Lap 1.159 1 13 Sebastian Vettel
65 1:33'57.046 1 Lap 4.220 2 14 George Russell
65 1:34'06.452 1 Lap 9.406 2 15 Antonio Giovinazzi
65 1:34'08.166 1 Lap 1.714 2 16 Nicholas Latifi
65 1:34'17.872 1 Lap 9.706 3 17 Fernando Alonso
65 1:34'18.194 1 Lap 0.322 2 18 Mick Schumacher
64 1:33'11.392 2 Laps 1 Lap 2 19 Nikita Mazepin
64 1:34'01.254 2 Laps 49.862 2 Yuki Tsunoda
6 8'49.179 60 Laps 58 Laps View full results
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.
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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.
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- Red Bull: Verstappen "called himself in" for slow pitstop
- Hamilton: Bottas "completely fair" after team orders call
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.
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- Hamilton hails "good gamble" on Spanish GP strategy
- Verstappen felt like ‘sitting duck’ against Hamilton in Spain fight
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 Max Verstappen
62 1'18.149 215.357 2 Valtteri Bottas
65 1'19.430 1.281 1.281 211.884 3 Sergio Perez
60 1'19.483 1.334 0.053 211.743 4 Charles Leclerc
64 1'20.459 2.310 0.976 209.174 5 Lewis Hamilton
54 1'20.665 2.516 0.206 208.640 6 Fernando Alonso
63 1'21.182 3.033 0.517 207.311 7 Lando Norris
56 1'21.279 3.130 0.097 207.064 8 Pierre Gasly
64 1'21.375 3.226 0.096 206.820 9 Carlos Sainz Jr.
53 1'21.568 3.419 0.193 206.330 10 Daniel Ricciardo
60 1'21.853 3.704 0.285 205.612 11 Lance Stroll
47 1'22.607 4.458 0.754 203.735 12 Mick Schumacher
54 1'22.637 4.488 0.030 203.661 13 Antonio Giovinazzi
42 1'22.802 4.653 0.165 203.255 14 Sebastian Vettel
56 1'22.820 4.671 0.018 203.211 15 Kimi Raikkonen
54 1'22.868 4.719 0.048 203.094 16 Nicholas Latifi
57 1'22.905 4.756 0.037 203.003 17 George Russell
30 1'23.208 5.059 0.303 202.264 18 Esteban Ocon
46 1'23.311 5.162 0.103 202.014 19 Nikita Mazepin
45 1'24.040 5.891 0.729 200.261 20 Yuki Tsunoda
5 1'24.825 6.676 0.785 198.408 View full results
2021 Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix tyre history
Cla Driver 1 2 3 4 1 Lewis Hamilton
S 32 M 14 M 30 2 Max Verstappen
S 27 M 36 S 6 3 Valtteri Bottas
S 26 M 30 S 16 4 Charles Leclerc
S 31 M 30 S 11 5 Sergio Perez
S 30 M 30 S 12 6 Daniel Ricciardo
S 28 M 21 S 21 7 Carlos Sainz Jr.
S 25 M 24 S 23 8 Lando Norris
S 26 M 28 S 17 9 Esteban Ocon
S 26 M 42 10 Pierre Gasly
S 18 M 29 S 18 11 Lance Stroll
S 22 M 17 S 29 12 Kimi Raikkonen
M 37 S 28 13 Sebastian Vettel
S 21 M 17 S 30 14 George Russell
S 9 M 19 M 37 15 Antonio Giovinazzi
S 8 M 34 S 29 16 Nicholas Latifi
S 9 M 18 M 23 S 18 17 Fernando Alonso
S 24 M 40 S 7 18 Mick Schumacher
S 23 M 27 M 14 19 Nikita Mazepin
S 22 M 20 M 22 Yuki Tsunoda
S 6 View full results
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