Hamilton wins Spanish GP ahead of Vettel

Past year in Spain, the Mercedes drivers collided at the start – leaving Hamilton 43 points adrift of Rosberg. While the Ferrari driver eventually did clear the Mercedes with a deft move into Turn 1, Vettel lost five seconds to Hamilton.

The 3X champion recovered after losing the lead from his 64th Pole to make the most of Key strategic decisions and win with power and precision ahead of championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari (NYSE:RACE).

“What matters is that I am leading the championship after the last race of the season, and that’s my thought process”, Hamilton added.

“This was the rawest fight I have felt in a long time”.

“I thought it would be more hard for him the longer he tried but then I had no tow [from backmarkers] and he sailed past”, said Vettel. “It was just very unlucky – it was just a small touch really”. With Hamilton on the soft tyre and Vettel on the medium, Ferrari attempt an undercut strategy while the German head out of the pits to re-join the track.

Vettel says he has no grumbles about being beaten by Hamilton at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona as he relishes the world title battle to develop throughout the 2017 campaign.

Vettel had a great surge from second on the grid, going past Hamilton to the first right-hand turn and staying in front just as his Ferrari partner’s race ended.

Bottas was also involved in the first lap crash at Turn One that eliminated both compatriot Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari and Dutch teenager Max Verstappen of Red Bull. Both Raikkonen and Verstappen received damages to their suspensions, forcing them to retire from the race. He blocked me, in the end I managed to get past, but by then I had lost an bad lot of time. Vettel stayed second, with Daniel Ricciardo a distant and lonesome third. But Vettel defended his inside position on a curve, sending Hamilton off as they came close to touching.

“I could sense he was angry, he said he was angry”, said Hamilton. On medium tires however, it was a matter of when, not if, Hamilton would be able to pass the championship leader. “The auto is good, the team is in great form”, he said.

Ferrari responded by pitting Vettel for the final time a lap later and as he came out Hamilton was pounding down the pit straight.

Sergio Perez finished fourth with his Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon an impressive fifth. Fernando Alonso crossed the line in 12th – his first finish of the season – but there was more misery for Britain’s Jolyon Palmer, who limped home last. And he was primed for a third-place finish, too.

For teenage star Verstappen it was a disappointing early exit after his heroics of a year ago, but for a young fan of Raikkonen the sadness was even greater as he was captured by the cameras bursting into tears. The McLaren driver’s race was instantly over and, with his vehicle discarded in the gravel, the virtual safety auto was deployed.