HAMILTON WINS AGAIN, 5-TH DOUBLE SCORE FOR MERCEDES AMG

ЛLewis Hamilton moved back to the top of the FIA Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship standings as he beat team-mate Valtteri Bottas to head Mercedes’ fifth one-two finish in a row. Max Verstappen finished third for Red Bull Racing, ahead of the Ferrari cars of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc.

When the lights went out at the start, it was Hamilton who made the best start and on the long run down to Turn 1 he tucked in on the inside of pole sitter Valtteri Bottas, who later complained of clutch problems on his getaway.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel had also made a good start and he tried to pass both Mercedes around the outside into the first turn. It was a risky, late-braking move and attempting to keep control Vettel locked up briefly. As Vettel got a poor exit from the corner, Verstappen pounced, passing the Ferrari in Turn 3 to take third place behind new leader Hamilton and Bottas.

Behind the front four Pierre Gasly in the second Red Bull was battling hard with the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and also coming under pressure from Haas’ Romain Grosjean. Gasly managed to defend well, though, and he kept P6 as the field crossed the line to start lap two.

Vettel, hampered by a flat spot sustained in his first-lap lock up and Leclerc quickly closed the gap to his team-mate. Vettel sensibly moved aside at the start of lap 12 and let his team-mate through. At the end of lap 19, Vettel finally opted to shed his damaged tyres and pitted for a set of new medium tyres. Verstappen was next in and at the end of lap 20 he pitted for soft tyres.

Vettel quickly began to close up on Leclerc, who had pitted for hard tyres. The German was clearly quicker on his medium tyres than his young team-mate racing on hard tyres and soon after the halfway point Leclerc returned Vettel’s earlier favour by backing off into Turn 4 to let the German through to fourth place.

Vettel then attempted to close the gap to Verstappen and though the Ferrari driver cut the deficit by a few seconds, on lap 40 he again made his way to the pit lane. He took on a set of mediums at the end of the lap and was soon back up to fifth.

Verstappen was next to make his second stop and at the end of lap 43 he took on medium tyres. He emerged behind Leclerc and quickly began to close up behind the Ferrari driver as ahead Bottas pitted for soft tyres.

On lap 45, though, the Safety Car was brought into play when McLaren’s Lando Norris and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll collided, with both being forced to stop. Both Hamilton and Leclerc elected to pit while the race was neutralised, with the Ferrari driver taking on medium tyres and the Mercedes driver fitting softs.

Behind the Safety Car the order was Hamilton followed by Bottas, Max, the Ferraris of Vettel and Leclerc, while Gasly still held sixth. When the SC left the track Hamilton set blistering pace on the restart to set the fastest lap of the race and to keep Bottas at bay. Verstappen also gradually eked out a gap to Vettel.

Fifteen laps later Hamilton crossed the line to take the 76thwin of his career with Bottas then taking the flag to continue Mercedes’s perfect start to the season.

Verstappen too his 24thcareer podium with third placed ahead of Vettel and Leclerc while Gasly finished as he started, in sixth place.

Kevin Magnussen was seventh for Haas ahead of home hero Carlos Sainz. Daniil Kvyat took two points for Toro Rosso with ninth place but despite putting enormous pressure on Romain Grosjean in the closing laps, Alex Albon couldn’t make it two Toros in the points and Haas driver Grosjean managed to cling on to tenth place at the flag.

Spanish Grand Prix – Race. 66 laps, 310.238km., Weather: Sunny.
CLASSIFIED:
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	1h35.50.443
2.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	+ 4.074
3.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 7.679
4.	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+ 9.167
5.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 13.361
6.	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull	+ 19.576
7.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 28.159
8.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren	+ 32.342
9.	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	+ 33.056
10.	Romain Grosjean	Haas	+ 34.641
11.	Alex Albon	Toro Rosso	+ 35.445
12.	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	+ 36.758
13.	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	+ 39.241
14.	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	+ 41.803
15.	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	+ 46.877
16.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	+ 47.691
17.	George Russell	Williams	+ 1 lap
18.	Robert Kubica	Williams	+ 1 lap
FASTEST LAP: LEWIS HAMILTON - 1:18.492
NOT CLASSIFIED:
19.	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	collision
20.	Lando Norris	McLaren	collision
HIBRYD HISTORY - CATALUNYA 2014 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h41:05.155 2015 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes AMG - 1h41:12.555 2016 Max Verstappen - Red Bull - 1h41:40.017 2017 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h35:56.497 2018 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h35:29.972 2019 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h35.50.443 @MakFormula1 - Republic of Macedonia

***CLASSIFICATION AFTER 5/21 RACES***
DRIVERS:
1.	Lewis Hamilton	112
2.	Valtteri Bottas	105
3.	Max Verstappen	66
4.	Sebastian Vettel	64
5.	Charles Leclerc	57
6.	Pierre Gasly	21
7.	Kevin Magnussen	14
8.	Sergio Perez	13
9.	Kimi Raikkonen	13
10.	Lando Norris	12
11.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	10
12.	Nico Hulkenberg	6
13.	Daniel Ricciardo	6
14.	Lance Stroll	4
15.	Alex Albon	3
16.	Daniil Kvyat	3
17.	Romain Grosjean	1
18.	Antonio Giovinazzi	0
19.	George Russell	0
20.	Robert Kubica	0
CONSTRUCTORS:
1.	Mercedes AMG	217
2.	Ferrari	121
3.	Red Bull	87
4.	McLaren	22
5.	Racing Point	17
6.	Haas	15
7.	Alfa Romeo	13
8.	Renault	12
9.	Toro Rosso	6
10.	Williams	0