Hamilton Reigns in Spain: Analysis of a dominant performance from the current world champion in Barcelona, brought to you by Bahrain International Circuit

With the surprise victory of Max Verstappen the previous weekend at Silverstone, there was no certainty of Mercedes dominating in Barcelona, despite yet another front row lock out in qualifying for Hamilton and Bottas. We have come to learn in the last couple of races that Red Bull in particular has better race pace compared to qualifying and that Mercedes tends to struggle in hotter temperatures, not least with tyre degradation. Even Mercedes boss Toto Wolf said before the race that he felt Verstappen was favourite, although perhaps that should have been taken with a pinch of salt, given his record of under-promising and over-delivering on many occasions.

That was indeed the case as Lewis Hamilton delivered a dominant performance from start to finish, despite track temperatures approaching 50 degrees. There were no tyre dramas and even the threat of rain evaded the circuit. It was a masterclass in race management from the six-times world champion, who never looked threatened during the race. It’s easy to forget that his teammate has the same car, yet he rarely seems to be under pressure from Bottas under race conditions. Hamilton described himself in a “different zone” as he finished the race. It felt at times that he was in a different time zone, given his incredible performance.

He finished almost 25 seconds ahead of Verstappen who delivered a commendable second place, acknowledging after the race that was the best possible result for the team. Bottas, in third, opted for a late pit stop enabling him to set the fastest lap of the race and a bonus point in the championship.

In the midfield, the Racing Point pair continued their strong season, finishing fourth and fifth despite being on different strategies, with Stroll opting for two stops, compared to Perez with one. A notable mention should also go to Sebastian Vettel. It still seems surreal to watch the great Ferraris deep in the midfield, but within the limitations of his car Vettel delivered a credible seventh place, having opted for a one stop strategy. Lerclerc suffered from electrical failure and was the only DNF in the field. Elsewhere, Carlos Sainz came sixth in his home race, with his teammate Lando Norris finishing tenth.

With F1 taking a couple of weeks off before it heads to Belgium at the end of the month, there will be plenty of stories off the track to keep F1 fans entertained. The question on the future of Toto Wolf as team boss of Mercedes remains a focus, with suggestions by the man himself that he will need to consider carefully his role in Mercedes beyond the end of the year. The relationship between Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari seems to have frosted up to the extent that some have wondered whether he will make it to the end of the season in his Ferrari seat.  Listening to the some of the colorful language on the team radio will not have helped matters between the parties. Finally, the row over Racing Point’s fine and docked points due to copying Mercedes’ design of brake ducts continues to rumble on.

Red Bull and others will certainly be hoping the next two weeks can deliver some meaningful improvements back at the factories in their pursuit of Mercedes.