Lewis Hamilton defeats Sebastian Vettel in thrilling Spanish GP

Lewis Hamilton won a drama-filled Spanish Grand Prix, as Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all saw just one car make the finish at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Hamilton took the flag 3.4s ahead of title rival Sebastian Vettel, with Daniel Ricciardo a distant third.

An excellent race for Force India saw Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon finish fourth and fifth respectively, with Nico Hulkenberg an equally impressive sixth for Renault. Carlos Sainz took seventh in his home race for Toro Rosso, while Sauber celebrated their first points of 2017 thanks to Pascal Wehrlein’s eighth place. Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and Haas’s Romain Grosjean completed the top ten.

There was action from the outset at the start of the race. As Vettel got the jump on polesitter Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes made light contact with the right-rear wheel of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in Turn 1.

It was enough to tip Raikkonen into the fast-starting Red Bull of Max Verstappen, both of whom went off into retirement with suspension damage, as Bottas continued in third, pursued by Ricciardo and the Force Indias. Bottas would later retire with suspected engine failure.

There was little to choose between Vettel’s and Hamilton’s pace and as they completed their second and final stops, it was the German who retained the narrowest of margins, despite the Briton getting briefly alongside as the Ferrari rejoined from the pit lane on Lap 38.

But with Hamilton on the quicker soft tyres for his final stint and Vettel on the medium, it was only a matter of time before the Mercedes swept into the lead with an easy DRS-assisted pass into Turn 1 on Lap 44, after which he went unchallenged to the flag.