HAMILTON WINS IN SPAIN

Hamilton wins for the third time in 2021 and for a record equalling sixth time in Spain. With a good start Verstappen managed to take the lead going into Turn 1 almost making contact with the Mercedes of Hamilton going into the first turn. Bottas managed a good race and showed the speed needed to be in the best car after rumours that he could be replaced by Russell (Williams) mid season.

It was an early exit from the race for Yuki Tsunoda in the Alpha Tauri on lap 10 when his engine cut out on the entry into Turn 10 and caused a yellow flag which eventually turned into a full course Safety Car.

Williams reacted to this by double stacking Latifi then Russell - it was a 4.3 second stop for Russell and a 3.2 second stop for Latifi - which gave the team some good race pace during the middle stint.

The Safety Car period ended on Lap 11 - with Verstappen getting a good restart and keeping his lead from Hamilton.

Then on lap 22 the battle of the pits stops began with Alonso and Vettel pitting from 10th and 11th. Then two laps later Bottas came in from fourth and exits in sixth behind Ricciardo (McLaren) and Perez (Red Bull). Then on the same lap Verstappen comes in from the lead giving Hamilton the lead of the race for the first time this race.

Verstappen's stop was 4.2 seconds which was simply not good enough and ultimately cost him the race win. When Verstappen eventually caught up to Perez the Mexican driver simply gave way and allowed his quicker team mate past.

On lap 28 Hamilton makes a stop from the lead. Handing back the lead to Verstappen.

Then eventually on lap 42 Hamilton makes a second stop - Bottas is now in second.

Then eventually after getting past Bottas and closing the gap to Verstappen on lap 60 Hamilton takes the lead and runs with it on his fresher tyres.

The next race is the Monaco Grand Prix