Lewis Hamilton takes first F1 win for Ferrari to end Kimi Antonelli’s run
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Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton celebrates by tossing his trophy into the air after winning the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix as his former teammate George Russell (left) of Mercedes watches on.
PHOTO: AFP
BARCELONA – Lewis Hamilton celebrated an emotional and historic first grand prix victory with Ferrari on June 14 to end Kimi Antonelli’s five-race sequence of success and become, at 41, Formula One’s oldest winner since Australian Jack Brabham in 1970.
The Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix triumph was the Briton’s first win since Belgium 2024 when he was at Mercedes, his record seventh in Spain at the Circuit de Catalunya and 106th of the seven-time world champion’s extraordinary career.
Italian Antonelli, the 19-year-old championship leader for Mercedes, retired five laps from the end with an electrical shutdown while in second place and saw his lead over Hamilton slashed to 41 points. It was his first setback of an otherwise prodigious season.
George Russell finished second for Mercedes, after starting on pole and being overtaken by Antonelli late in the race, with McLaren’s reigning champion Lando Norris third.
“Grazie a tutti a Maranello,” Hamilton said over the radio in a heartfelt message of thanks to everyone at the Ferrari factory he joined from Mercedes last year .
“Thank you so much. You’ve helped me achieve this dream and I can’t thank you enough. Thanks for everyone pushing so hard back at home. I’m so proud of you.”
The win was also a first since 2024 for Ferrari, and the first time three British drivers had shared the podium since the 1968 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen saw Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and John Surtees sweep the top three places.
The late triple champion Brabham was 43 and 11 months when he took his last F1 victory in South Africa. Hamilton turns 42 in January 2027.
In more modern times, Briton Nigel Mansell won in Australia in 1994 at 41 and three months.
“I’m just happy in my life, so I’m in a good place. I love doing what I do. There’s no greater feeling than racing a Formula One car,” said Hamilton, who benefited from a virtual safety car triggered by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to make a cheap third stop and come out still ahead.
“There is a long, long way to go and they (Mercedes) have still got great pace, as you can see. But we are going to keep working and trying to close that gap. It’s not over, that’s for sure.”
Russell, who has not finished in the top three since the second race of the season in China, said: “Good to be back on the podium and have a clean race, but Ferrari were mighty today so we need to keep pushing.
“The last stints were difficult, but it’s good to be back here. The pace today was insane from Lewis, they are coming I think.”
With track temperatures up at 51 deg C, Hamilton opted for a three pit-stop strategy and it worked to perfection, with the third of those fortuitously coming while the virtual safety car was deployed.
Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen finished fourth with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri fifth and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar sixth.
Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto were seventh and eighth for Renault-owned Alpine with Racing Bulls pair Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completing the points places.
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc retired after a reported power steering problem. REUTERS
