Hamilton wins drama-filled 2017 Formula One Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton says his battle with Sebastian Vettel at the Spanish GP was the “rawest he can remember” after overtaking the German with 22 laps remaining to claim victory.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen went out at the start after a collision with Red Bull’s 2016 victor Verstappen.

“We’re very happy when we have the chance to race Mercedes”, he said.

Hamilton eventually stopped at the end of lap 21, taking on the more durable medium rubber, and exited the pit lane almost eight seconds adrift of Vettel.

The 2016 Spanish Grand Prix saw Verstappen become the youngest driver to win an F1 race in a dream debut for Red Bull’s senior team. But Vettel defended his inside position on a curve, sending Hamilton off as they came close to touching.

“I looked down and I had lost an very bad lot of time“.

“I’ve been racing for 24, 25 years and it feels like the first win”.

Vettel was the first driver to stop for a slight issue with his front tyre delaying him only fractionally.

With the two leaders lapping every driver up to third-place Daniel Ricciardo, Hamilton acknowledged the closeness of the battle with Vettel.

Hamilton will now head to the next round in Monaco just six points shy of the man he is bidding to join on four world titles following a dramatic race in which the championship protagonists diced on track for the first time this season.

Matters were made worse by the fact Hamilton has chosen to drop his drinks bottle to save some weight, meaning he’s unable to replace any of the roughly 2kg of fluid a driver loses throughout a race. I tried (to pass Raikkonen) around the outside and I think that if Valtteri didn’t touch Kimi then everything would have been fine – we could have given each other space. “I was more than half alongside him, and he pushed me wide”.

Hamilton struggled to regain the lead from the German initially, but never really looked in trouble after finally managing to do so. I think the auto was good, nothing to blame there.

The Briton, who made the move stick seven laps later and then made his tyres last to the finish, had sounded strangely breathless during the race when fretting about a strategy that turned out to be spot on. “It doesn’t matter how fit you are, I was on the edge the whole way”. For now we take what we can and it’s nice to be up on the podium.

Penske’s Will Power took his first win of the IndyCar Series season on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course. “I’ve nothing to moan about”.

Every driver, 1, 2 & 3 on the Podium, was lapped during a terrific race that saw Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and last year’s victor, Max Verstappen, crash out on the 1st lap.

Despite Bottas experiencing his first retirement as a Silver Arrows driver with a mechanical failure on lap 39, Mercedes lead the Constructors’ Championship by eight points from Ferrari. But when he struggles, as he did in his a year ago at Red Bull Racing in 2014, he appears defeated even before he steps in the vehicle.