The winners and losers from F1’s Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton may have romped home to another comprehensive Formula 1 victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, but he wasn’t the only ‘winner’ from the weekend. 

A number of drivers shone brightly on Sunday in Barcelona, while others will be pleased they now have a short break to collect themselves and bounce back at the next triple-header of races.

Here are our winners and losers from the Spanish Grand Prix… 

The Winners 

Lewis Hamilton 

A masterclass performance from Hamilton, who continues to get the best out of himself amid a purple patch of form that sees the Briton threatening to run away with this year’s title. 

Exceptional tyre management and understanding of Pirelli’s tyres made Mercedes’ demons from Silverstone seem a distant memory as Hamilton stormed to a dominant win, finishing 24 seconds up the road from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and having lapped everyone up to the podium. 

Hamilton’s 88th career win sees him move 37 points clear in the championship ahead of Verstappen, while Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas is now 43 points adrift. 

FEATURE: How Hamilton reached his 'highest form' in F1 Spanish GP

Racing Point

Racing Point extracted the maximum out of its race to claim a strong two-car points finish as Lance Stroll headed home returning teammate Sergio Perez in fourth. 

Aside from Perez’s time penalty - which only lost him one position to Stroll in the end - it was a faultless execution from the Silverstone squad, which has moved up to third place in the constructors’ championship on 63 points, one point clear of McLaren and two ahead of Ferrari. 

Carlos Sainz 

After being plagued by some bad luck so far this season, Sainz bounced back in style on home turf to claim a superb sixth-place finish. 

The McLaren driver had been hampered by recent cooling issues that only seemed to be cured following a full chassis and engine change in Barcelona. 

Sainz followed up his strong Q3 qualifying display to take P6 in the race, ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari and Red Bull’s Alex Albon and only behind the Mercedes, Max Verstappen and the Racing Point duo. 

Sebastian Vettel 

A much better Sunday showing from Vettel, even though it is far from what the four-time world champion would expect to achieve. 

The German was effectively in charge of Ferrari’s strategy and successfully pulled off a risky one-stop to score the team’s only points of the day in seventh, beating the faster Red Bull of Albon in the process. 

The Losers 

Valtteri Bottas

A despondent Bottas himself admitted he can see the 2020 F1 title “drifting away” after another disappointing race in the Spanish Grand Prix. 

A second botched start in four races put Bottas on the back foot, but he duly recovered to the podium to take third place. The Finn was unable to overhaul Verstappen to make it a Mercedes 1-2 and subsequently finds himself staring at a mammoth 43-point deficit to Hamilton in the championship. 

Spain marked the fifth consecutive race that Bottas has squandered points to his in-form teammate by finishing behind Hamilton. 

Alex Albon

Despite an improved qualifying by grabbing P6 on the grid, Albon’s race didn’t go to plan and he ended up finishing a lowly eighth while teammate Verstappen notched up yet another podium. 

Albon’s race unfolded largely due to Red Bull’s strategy, with the decision to pit the Anglo-Thai early for a switch to Hards backfiring when he was released into traffic. 

It was a case of taking one step forward and two back for Albon on a day that started off with promise to potentially be the catalyst for a much-needed change of fortunes. 

Renault 

Renault had high hopes heading to Barcelona after stronger performances following an upgrade breakthrough at Silverstone, but things went south in Spain. 

Neither Ricciardo nor Ocon were able to score points as Renault lost further ground to its nearest midfield rivals on a weekend when the French manufacturer’s new CEO Luca de Meo was present. 

The Spanish Grand Prix 

Sunday’s snooze fest was hardly a great advert for the Spanish Grand Prix or the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. 

Let’s face it, aside from Hamilton and Rosberg deciding to wipe each other out at Turn 4 in 2016 and Pastor Maldonado’s shock win for Williams, Barcelona has not been the scene of many great moments in recent years. 

Overtaking is notoriously difficult, but a lack of action at the front of the grid - barring Bottas’ botched start - had many viewers considering a tactical mid-afternoon nap.