Lewis Hamilton Wins Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix for First Ferrari Victory as Antonelli Retires

BARCELONA, Spain. Lewis Hamilton won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on Sunday, his first Grand Prix victory for Ferrari and his first win in nearly two years. George Russell finished second for Mercedes, 19.561 seconds back, and Lando Norris was third for McLaren in the first all-British podium since 1968.

The win ended Mercedes' 2026 winning streak. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli retired on Lap 62 of 66, and Hamilton cut into his lead in the standings.

"First I have to start and say a huge grazia to everyone here, my team here at Ferrari, everyone back at the factory, Fred for believing in me and bringing me to this team," Hamilton said. "We made so many changes and we made so many improvements, and on top of that I've got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for."

The three-stop gamble

Russell took pole by 0.064 seconds after leading FP1 and FP3, with Hamilton alongside him. Russell had arrived 68 points behind Antonelli after a difficult weekend in Monaco.

Track temperatures were above 50 Celsius before the formation lap, and Hamilton started on soft tyres while most of the field chose mediums. Russell kept the lead at the start. Ferrari then went to a three-stop strategy that worked perfectly, with Hamilton gaining a free stop under a Virtual Safety Car. He pulled away from the Mercedes cars with a run of fast laps.

Antonelli passed Russell late in the race before his retirement. Charles Leclerc, who crashed in Q3 and started 10th, gained three places on the opening lap but also retired late.

The rest of the field

Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull Racing, ahead of Oscar Piastri, with Isack Hadjar sixth after recovering from a poor start that dropped him from sixth to 14th. Pierre Gasly was seventh for Alpine. Franco Colapinto took a 10-second penalty after the race that dropped him from eighth to 10th, promoting Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad of Racing Bulls to eighth and ninth.

Gabriel Bortoleto was 11th for Audi, ahead of Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon of Haas and Sergio Perez of Cadillac. There were seven official retirements, all from car problems, including both Aston Martins, Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg and Ollie Bearman.

For more, see Formula 1's race report (opens in a new tab).

This was Round 7 of the 2026 season. It came after Antonelli's Monaco Grand Prix win and before Russell's Austrian Grand Prix win. For the full title picture, see our 2026 F1 standings breakdown.

Sources: Formula 1. More Formula 1 coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Scuderia Ferrari HP via X