Hamilton cruises to victory and heads Mercedes 1-2

World champion Lewis Hamilton stormed to an impressive pole-to-flag victory today in the Formula 1 Gran Premio De Espana Emirates 2018.

After getting away at the lights with a clean start, the Briton put in a flawless drive and was unstoppable as he cruised to the finish line with a massive gap over his closest challenger, teammate Valtteri Bottas. They completed a well-deserved one-two for Mercedes.

Hamilton registered a winning race time of 1 hour 35 minutes 29.972 seconds for his 64th career victory and third at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Bottas followed 20.593 seconds behind while Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing completed the podium finishers 26.873s back.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen were classified fourth through sixth.

Rounding out the points winners Carlos Sainz of Renault, Fernando Alonso of McLaren, Sergio Perez of Force India and Charles Leclerc of Sauber.

The result was Hamilton’s second successive win of the 2018 season. He extended his lead in the Drivers’ Championship from Vettel, improving to 95 points. Vettel went to 78 and Bottas to 58 points in third.

Mercedes continue to lead the Constructors’ standings with 153 points. Ferrari follow with 126 points.

“I’m really, really happy,” Hamilton said post-race. “I had no idea how the race was going to play out. We got the qualifying right yesterday, but the temperatures were going up and down today, clouds were coming over and we didn’t know if it was going to rain or not.

“But I got a good start and after that the others didn’t have the pace to keep up with me. I was pulling away almost a second a lap and I was thinking “Yes, let’s keep this up!” – and it stayed that way for the rest of the race.

“To get our first one-two of the season here is a really great result for the team. Everyone’s worked so hard, we had a great pit stop and great strategy. I said that I wanted to come win the way that I won and when I was coming across the line I was just happy that I did as I planned to.”

“We definitely go to Monaco on a high note, but we know that we still have a lot of work to do. It’s really important that we all continue to push and work as hard as we have done during this first part of the season.”

The Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2018 is the next stop on the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. It is scheduled for May 27 in Monte Carlo.