What Barcelona’s hot and humid war of tyre attrition lacked in on-track action, it made up for in storylines. Sunday’s initially languid race became one to remember thanks to the revival of an all-time great, and poetic justice that provided the latest twist in an intriguing Formula 1 title campaign.
The day belongs to none other than Lewis Hamilton as he records his 106th grand prix win, his first in two full years, and crucially his maiden grand prix victory for Ferrari. It can’t be understated how deep Hamilton sunk towards the end of a soul destroying 2025 maiden campaign with his new employer, with the 41-year-old admitting there were doubts on whether he still had the right stuff.
But following a revitalising off-season, Ferrari was able to give him the car and engineering team he could gel with, and the result is a driver reborn, firing on all cylinders alongside a rapid Charles Leclerc. As Ferrari rolled out a second impressive batch of upgrades in Barcelona, what it is still lacking in outright one-lap pace it is seemingly making up for in superior tyre management on a hot and demanding Barcelona layout.
But that is all academic. What matters for the narrative of Hamilton’s career is that it will not go out on a sad whimper, as many feared when he exchanged silver for scarlet. And what matters for the narrative of the 2026 campaign is that Ferrari is standing up to Mercedes.
Loser: Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
A couple of weeks after George Russell suffered a brutal retirement in Montreal, Antonelli now also knows how it feels to be dealt a huge championship blow through no fault of his own. Just as it looked like he was going to land another blow to Russell, Antonelli had to park his Mercedes with power unit trouble, causing a 21-point swing in the championship compared to his team-mate.
You could see some poetic justice in both Mercedes drivers suffering one power unit failure each during a race, but that’s not how Mercedes will view it. For the team, it’s another massive haul of points down the drain due to reliability woes. And amid a surging Ferrari that is the last thing the Silver Arrows needs.
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Winner: George Russell
This day could have been quite ugly for Russell. Struggling for pace and balance as soon as he went onto the hard tyres, his tough second half of the race left him obliterated by Hamilton, who used an aggressive three-stop to work his way past and likely would have had the pace advantage to do so without a handily time virtual safety car.
Russell’s struggles made him vulnerable against team-mate and title rival Antonelli, and after Antonelli’s clear indication he had plenty of pace in hand, Mercedes chief Toto Wolff may well have had a few Barcelona 2016 flashbacks. His current driver pairing kept it clean, though, but soon after passing Russell, Antonelli retired with more engine trouble to provide the latest twist in what has been an odd title battle so far.
Russell was handed a huge reprieve, which made him come out of the Barcelona weekend as the mathematical winner. But after being a touch ahead of Antonelli all weekend, he will be dying to know what went so wrong for him during the race.
When Fernando Alonso speaks, it’s always prudent to take his comments with a pinch of salt, as the wily Spaniard enjoys playing games with the press. But his suggestion that the 2026 Barcelona race is going to be his last at the Catalan venue is probably not much of a revelation, as F1 won’t return here before 2028- by which time the evergreen two-time champ will be 46 going on 47.
It doesn’t close the door completely on another unexpected career twist – he has been linked with Alpine for what be an unprecedented fourth stint – but in any case Alonso’s choice for would-be superteam Aston Martin has not exactly panned out and it’s clear Alonso is wearing it, growing ever more frustrated and irritated with the media and the situation he’s in.
Carlos Sainz may have enjoyed more success in recent years, but Alonso is still the nation’s original F1 hero, as evidenced by the hordes of local donning British racing green which the Austrian went to greet on the parade lap. They didn’t get much to cheer about. After qualifying 22nd and dead last, behind Stroll and the Cadillacs, Alonso joined team-mate Lance Stroll in a premature retirement with a “battery issue”.
Despite the adulation, one of the greatest drivers of the modern era deserved a better Barcelona swansong.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Winner: Alpine
Before the race, the kind folk over at Alpine would have bitten your hand off for a double points finish. Team Enstone looked liked it was on the ropes, with no real understanding why its pace was so poor around Barcelona. The A526 was tough unpredictable and tough to tame all weekend, even prompting Pierre Gasly to try a new chassis after Friday practice but to no avail as he and Franco Colapinto qualified on the seventh row.
Its race pace wasn’t necessarily fantastic, but more competitive than its one-lap speed as the pair moved up the order, helped by some attrition ahead and a handy VSC pitstop for Gasly to switch to the hard tyres
“If someone had told me on Friday that we would finish in P7 in the race, then I definitely would have signed up for that,” Gasly said. “I am very pleased with today’s race where we pretty much did everything right and put ourselves in contention to score points.”
The only blot on Alpine’s race was an unnecessary 10-second penalty for Colapinto for not sufficiently respecting a yellow flag, which ended up demoting him from eighth to 10th. But it was still the best of the rest in F1’s packed midfield.
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Regular readers of this column may remember sightings of the cartoon anvil that kept chasing Alonso around in 2025. It’s far too charitable to Aston Martin and Honda to ascribe their current woes to bad luck, but the cartoon anvil did make a grand return in Barcelona as it struck Aston’s neighbours at Audi, where Nico Hulkenberg suffered one of the most bizarre and unlucky retirements we’ve ever seen.
While on his way to finally add some much-needed points to Audi’s tally, Hulkenberg’s car shut down when a piece of gravel kicked up by Liam Lawson hit the German’s Audi right on the ERS kill switch, a switch which is supposed to turn off the car in case of emergency. It is just brutal luck for Hulkenberg after a weekend on which Audi was looking like a competitive force in the midfield.
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