Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes stole a stunning victory in the Spanish Grand Prix from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
A clever strategic move by the team followed by Hamilton attacking and passing Vettel put the Briton in control and he defended successfully to the end.
Vettel had passed Hamilton off the start line to lead for the first half of the race but ended up out-flanked by their rivals.
Hamilton’s second win of the season cut his deficit to Vettel in the championship to six points after five of 20 races.
It was a tense and gripping battle befitting the closeness of the fight between Formula 1’s top teams this season.
Vettel took control of the race with a superb start, sweeping around the outside of Hamilton into Turn One and building a 2.2-second lead with a blistering first lap.
When Ferrari beat Mercedes to making the first pit stop, preventing Hamilton passing by stopping earlier and benefiting from fresh tyres, the race appeared to be Vettel’s to lose and Mercedes to win.
Mercedes switched strategies, putting Hamilton on a long middle stint on the slower medium tyre, the idea being to attack Vettel at the end of the race, when Hamilton would be on the soft tyre and the Ferrari on the medium.
They then bought themselves some time by delaying the first pit stop of Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas so he could hold up Vettel for a couple of laps.
Vettel’s delay behind Bottas brought Hamilton’s deficit to the Ferrari down from 7.3 seconds to less than five, but the German limited the damage with a stunning passing move on the Finn into Turn One.
Vettel dummied to the inside, then the outside, before diving down the inside, his wheels brushing the grass, to grasp the lead and apparently take another step towards victory.
Vettel finishes off his amazing double dummy move over Bottas into Turn One
Vettel’s aggressive defensive move
The race turned during a period of the virtual safety car, when cars are forced to lap at controlled speeds while a car is cleared from a dangerous spot.
This was to remove Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren, which went off at the first corner after a collision with Massa.
The VSC was in play for two laps and Mercedes waited until it was just about to end to pit Hamilton for a set of soft tyres.
The move was an inspired gamble with 30 laps still to go – although team boss Toto Wolff admitted that it would have been even better to stop one lap earlier – a tough task on the soft tyre.
Ferrari – who may well have erred in not stopping under the VSC themselves – responded to Mercedes by stopping Vettel for the final time a lap later and he rejoined from the pits as Hamilton pounded down the pit straight.
They went into the first corner side by side and Vettel forced Hamilton off the track at Turn One as he defended his lead.
Hamilton’s amazing overtake
Hamilton now had to pass Vettel on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult.
He pressured Vettel hard for the next seven laps before getting close enough to try for a pass at the start of lap 44. Hamilton was close enough at the final corner to get the DRS overtaking aid and he swept by Vettel around the outside into Turn One.
Hamilton, who sounded breathless and anxious on the radio throughout the race, tensely asked his team what he needed to do in terms of building a gap while also protecting his tyres, and Ferrari briefly considered switching strategy to make an extra stop.
But he controlled his pace exquisitely to take his 55th win and almost certainly one of his best.
