Lewis Hamilton felt he “lost a bit of power” which led to poor start at Spanish GP

Lewis Hamilton was left to rue a sluggish start on the opening lap of the F1 Spanish Grand Prix, suggesting it could have been a loss of power.

Starting from third on the grid, Hamilton was swamped by Mercedes teammate George Russell and the two Ferraris into Turn 1.

Hamilton was brave on the brakes into the first corner as he recovered to fourth behind Lando Norris.

The seven-time world champion lost out to Carlos Sainz through the pit stop phase before recovering throughout the race.

Hamilton ultimately overtook Russell in the closing phase of the race to secure his first podium of the year.

Reflecting on his top three finish in Barcelona, Hamilton told Sky Sports: “It’s been a really, really great weekend. What can I say? It’s been a minute since I’ve had a result like this. I am very, very happy. I feel a bit light which is nice.

“I had a lot of great support here actually which I feel over the years has grown. A big thank you to everyone that’s here and everyone that continued to stick it out with me. I had a really bad start which was unfortunate.

“Not quite sure what happened. I felt like I lost a bit of power in the second phase. I was surrounded by the Ferraris which was not so easy but then to come back from there is pretty awesome.

“I think ultimately if I’d got the start I should have got I would have been much closer to those guys.”

Hamilton pulled off an impressive manoeuvre on Sainz on Lap 19 after the first pit stop phase.

The pair touched wheels as Hamilton went down the inside into Turn 1, leading to Sainz complaining over team radio.

The stewards decided not to investigate the incident.

Hamilton felt his overtake on Sainz was “clean” and he left as much space as he physically could.

“Pretty awesome for me,” he added. “I think it was clean. Ultimately, he didn’t cover the inside fully. He left the door open which I went for.

“A late move, got up alongside, we were wheel-to-wheel. He was still on the track so I left him space as much as I could.”