Lewis Hamilton Uses The Force To Score Brilliant Spanish GP Victory

On Thursday Lewis Hamilton was asked what colour light saber he'd use and on Sunday he revealed himself to be quite the podracer when he won the Spanish Grand Prix in exciting fashion.

Hamilton won a brilliant race to finish ahead of rival Sebastian Vettel as the pair shared the lead throughout the race.

Before the race began at Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya on Sunday we'd already seen three winners in four races with Valtteri Bottas' first ever race win in Russia two weeks previous.

_{Vettel leads at the start. Image: PA}

Bottas had only managed to qualify in third this time with teammate Hamilton leading from championship leader Vettel in second and fellow Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen in fourth.

Most impressive in qualifying was the over achievement of Fernando Alonso who managed to get his McLaren into seventh on the grid.

By the end of the first corner Raikkonen and last year's race winner Max Verstappen were out of the race after colliding and off of Alonso's hard work was undone in the melee, though he carried on.

_{Raikkonen and Verstappen clash after they and Bottas are three abreast. Image: PA}

Vettel going Hans Solo as the only Ferrari on the track would come back to bite him despite overtaking Hamilton before the first corner problems and taking the lead.

Ferrari made the first pit stop, preventing the possibility of an undercut from Mercedes, and the Silver Arrows switched Hamilton to a different strategy and onto medium compounds at the first stop.

But the German team weren't done with their strategical battle. Leaving Bottas out for as long as possible the Finn slowed Vettel down and reduced his lead over Hamilton by four seconds.

Despite having fresher tyres the four time world champion needed to pull off a double bluff overtake on Bottas that even saw his wheels brush the grass.

_{Vettel and Bottas fight for position. Image: PA}

It was a sensational move by Vettel and released him from the slower Mercedes.

The drama really picked up with 30 laps to go with Hamilton pitting at the end of a virtual safety car period so his rival couldn't follow suit under the controlled pace.

It left the British driver with a long time to stay on the soft tyres. It also left him coming down the start/finish line as Vettel exited the pits one lap later.

The pair went into turn one wheel to wheel with the Mercedes going off the track to avoid a collision and come back on to stay behind the Prancing Horse.

On lap 44 Hamilton finally overtook his rival having reeled him in for the previous seven laps and went past the outside of Vettel at turn one thanks in part to DRS.

_{Incredible work by Force India, the only team to score double points in all opening five races. Image: PA}

Hamilton drove masterfully to increase his lead and make sure his tyres didn't fall away as Vettel couldn't get near him by then end.

Daniel Ricciardo had an uneventful race to finish on the final podium spot whilst the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon finished impressively in fourth and fifth.

_{Hamilton and Mercedes celebrate a true team victory. Image: PA}

There was further impressive finishes for Renault, Toro Rosso, Sauber and Haas whilst Williams hugely underperformed.

Fernando Alonso could only manage 12th before leaving to continue his stint at the Indy 500.

The day though belonged to the young Jedi!

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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