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British racing driver Lewis Hamilton grabbed his third win of the season on Sunday as he clinched victory at Spanish Grand Prix. With the win, the Mercedes driver extended his early season lead over Red Bull rival Max Verstappen. While Verstappen finished second, Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas came third. Hamilton had earlier gone the fastest around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Saturday's qualifying session to claim the 100th pole position of his F1 career. He had beaten Verstappen narrowly by 0.036 seconds to achieve the milestone.
Three wins in four races in ongoing season
It has been a great run for the seven-time world champion in the ongoing season. In the overall four races, he has emerged as a winner in three of them. His overall win tally increases to 98th. The result implies that the Brit is now 14 points clear of Verstappen who managed to snatch back a point for the fastest lap. Other than the podium finishes, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished fourth and fifth respectively at Barcelona on Sunday.
Verstappen led the majority of the race
While Hamilton eventually ended as the winner, it was Verstappen who was leading the majority of the race. He was superb to begin with brilliantly snatching the lead from Hamilton in Turn 1 at the start. But while Red Bull had a one-stop strategy around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the reigning champion opted for two which worked well for the team. With with six laps to go, the 36-year-old Mercedes used the superior performance of his newer tyres to pass the Dutchman into Turn 1 and take the lead for his win.