Lewis Hamilton secured his 106th career victory – and his maiden win for Ferrari – at Sunday’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton is now 41 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who retired from the race.
Mercedes’ George Russell was second and McLaren’s Lando Norris third, making it the first all-British podium since the US Grand Prix in 1968.
BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions after Barcelona.
Does Lewis Hamilton’s return to form mean he is now back in contention for an eighth title? Does it mean Ferrari may soon be putting their efforts towards him for the championship? – Liam
Lewis Hamilton is the first non-Mercedes driver to win a race this year, and he is now second in the championship – 41 points behind Kimi Antonelli – following Sunday’s victory in Spain.
But it’s too early to make any definitive judgements about Hamilton as a title contender.
Before his triumph at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, the idea of him or Ferrari being title contenders looked fanciful, given how Mercedes had dominated the season.
A significant aerodynamic upgrade on the Ferrari was enough, though – in combination with all other factors at play – to make Hamilton and Ferrari the fastest driver and car on track on Sunday.
But a lot of circumstances aligned. For one, Mercedes compromised their strategy by covering Hamilton’s early first stop.
They decided to deviate from their optimum stop times for a two-stop race to lock in track position. Arguably, from that moment on, Hamilton’s three-stop was the faster strategy.
Then, the virtual safety car gifted Hamilton a cheap stop that allowed him to pit and retain the lead.
Without that, he would have still been the fastest car on track, but to win he would have had to pass Lando Norris’ McLaren as well as both Mercedes – or maybe only one, given Antonelli retired late on.
On top of that, for now, Ferrari are lacking power compared to Mercedes. Barcelona is not an especially power-sensitive track. And the Ferrari is the fastest car in the corners, especially the type of corners in Barcelona.
But the next three races – Austria, Britain and Belgium – are all on power-sensitive tracks. As things stand, it’s unlikely Ferrari could beat Mercedes there.
Having said that, word on the street is there is a Ferrari engine upgrade coming soon, now they have been officially declared to be allowed two for both this season and next. How much difference will that make?
In short, Hamilton’s Spain win was enough to make the idea a reasonably logical conversation piece, but it will take more evidence from more races before anyone can say definitively he is a title contender.
Are Charles Leclerc’s current struggles during qualifying due to pressure from Lewis Hamilton’s revival in form? Or is he genuinely struggling with braking problems? – Rob
To address this question, it’s important to separate out Spain from the two races preceding it.
It’s definitely the case that Charles Leclerc was struggling in Canada and Monaco, particularly with the braking characteristics of the Ferrari.
He had been using different brake discs from Hamilton and they were not working as he wanted.
For Spain, it’s believed he switched to Hamilton’s brake set-up and was much happier.
He was quicker than Hamilton through practice, his race simulation times on Friday afternoon impressed Mercedes, and he was quicker than Hamilton in the second session of qualifying.
Leclerc then crashed on his first lap in Q3.
He described Turn Four as his “weak spot” all weekend – when compared to Hamilton. And it seems he tried to brake as late as Hamilton there. It worked on entry, but it carried him wide through the corner, he got off line on exit, the car snapped, and he ended up in the wall.
As Hamilton put it: “I was braking very late into Turn Four, which had been visible, and I think Charles probably tried to carry a lot of speed into that corner and unfortunately it didn’t work out for him.”
In the race, Leclerc had to make up ground from 10th on the grid, and he did so impressively in the opening laps. Then, according to team boss Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari changed Leclerc’s strategy mid-race, which suggests he started aiming for a three-stop and converted to a two.
Whether that was an explanation for his lack of pace compared to Hamilton, which other teams noticed, is not entirely clear.
Vasseur said after the race: “He had a good feeling with the car, he was in confidence, he was able to fight for the pole position yesterday.
“Then the fact that we changed the strategy in the middle of the race, it was difficult for him. He pitted once again one lap before the safety car. But I think the approach and the feeling is much better for Charles today than it was three weeks ago.”
Over the season as a whole, while Hamilton is 6-4 up in their qualifying head-to-head, Leclerc is actually slightly quicker on average, by 0.025secs.
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