Race Highlights | 2021 Spanish Grand Prix

It's lights out and away we go. And I think Verstappen got a slightly better start than Lewis Hamilton, and also Charles Leclerc a better start than Valtteri Bottas. Hamilton is just leading ahead then of Max Verstappen on the inside of the Ferrari Esteban Ocon. As Verstappen goes into Turn 1 and goes past the Mercedes. He got his elbows out there, Max Verstappen, and takes the lead of the race from Lewis Hamilton and then Valtteri Bottas. They're all clean through the first couple of corners, but that was such an important move for Verstappen, and he got it done well. Once again, Verstappen with razor blades on his elbows, and he would not yield. All fair, it was good racing, and Lewis did well to just step out of it and live for another 66 laps. Engine stopped on the outside of Turn 10, the newly reprofiled Turn 10. Wouldn't be at all surprised. Yes, safety car is going to be deployed. Max Verstappen is off and running, and Lewis Hamilton trying to get to a spot where the Ferrari behind him can't get the benefit of a tow. But he's given up on that, and he's gone for the best place possible to go into Turn 1. Sergio Perez is in a duel with Esteban Ocon, 6th and 7th on the racetrack. Yes, Max was trying to break the tow. Quick thinking there. You're allowed to do that. You know, you might think, well, you're not allowed to move across the track like that. That's only when you're in combat. If there's nobody around you, you can move side to side. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll now going through Turn 4. Alonso's got the inside line, but can Stroll hang on to this to take the inside line at Turn 5 and take a position and move into 9th place? He can. He's ahead of Fernando Alonso into 10th place. Mercedes have opted to carry on as Verstappen pits. Yeah, he's right below me, Crofty. They're a bit slow on the rear left. The rear left tyre very slow to come out. I don't know if it was a late call, but they were slow to bring the tyre out, and that's cost him time. This is a huge opportunity. Once again, an opportunity given to Mercedes and Hamilton. Blue flags. Michael, this guy makes us lose the position. That's Toto Wolff talking to race control. Yeah, talking to Michael Massi. All the tyres are here, unlike the Red Bull situation. The team, nice and early. Hamilton gets a clean entry into his pit box. No problems here, all the way towards Jack. That's a superstar from Mercedes. Lots of fist bumping here from the mechanics. Red Bull think they're safe in this pit stop to the threat of Mercedes, and they are. Fernando Alonso going round the outside of Antonio Giovinazzi, and you've got Sebastian Vettel, who wants to make a move round the outside at Turn 3 as well, but I think he might just miss out. And on the inside of Sebastian Vettel, here comes Pierre Gasly at Turn 4. You don't often see three cars so close together through Turn 4. And how close was Sebastian Vettel and the Aston Martin to the Alfa Tauri going through there? Either way, he's managed to get the move done that he really wanted. Mercedes committing then to the two-stop strategy and pitting right now. So, has that caught Red Bull unawares? What a strategy move by Lewis Hamilton and by Mercedes. They had two sets of the medium compound tyre at their disposal. Could be Hungary all over again here. Hungary 2019, where they've caught them unawares. And Pérez is ahead. Where did the move come from? That's a long way back then. Well, Daniel Ricciardo is normally the last of the late breakers. Pérez might have broke a little bit later himself and got his own elbows out there. Yeehaw! What a move. Look at that. We're now on board with Carlos Sainz. The car ahead of him is former teammate Lando Norris. The car ahead of Lando Norris is current teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Can Sainz get past Lando Norris? Pulls out right at the last moment to the left-hand side. And into Turn 1 he goes. Don't hold Lewis up. Well, don't hold him up. There was an opportunity to let him past. Valtteri has talked about this before. You know, I'm not overly keen on this whole team orders business. Valtteri's not in contention necessarily for the win, as is going to happen. No, he's not! Whoa! He was not willing there at all, was he? How much did that cost Hamilton in terms of time to Max Verstappen? He lost four tenths to him in the middle sector on this lap. When Lewis Hamilton came out of the pits from his second stop, the gap was over 22 seconds. Verstappen is struggling here. Hamilton is right on his tail. If you remember last time out, Hamilton passed Max Verstappen on his way to victory in Portugal. Is he going to do it again here in Spain seven days later? Getting showered in rubber from the rear of that Red Bull. Hamilton goes round the outside at Turn 1 and the charge is complete. Hamilton, by making an extra stop, has been given the opportunity by Mercedes to go on and win the race. And he now leads on lap 60. There goes Gasly on Kimi Räikkönen. Into Turn 10 we go. Sebastian Vettel takes the very long way around Turn 10 and lost out a bit there, as Gasly now round the outside of the right-hander at Turn 11. He's got much better traction coming out of there, manages to get past Kimi Räikkönen. So he's in 12th, Räikkönen now 13th. They smell a chance of stealing Fernando Alonso. So here goes Lance Stroll again. He's got a little bit more pace on Fernando Alonso and he can get the move done before they arrive into Turn 1. Look how Alonso's struggling round the outside. Goes Pierre Gasly as well. The Spanish Grand Prix is not the favourite home race for Fernando Alonso this afternoon, as Stroll loses out to Pierre Gasly for a point going into Turn 1. Gasly have been moving past Räikkönen, then Alonso, who's pitted, has now picked up a World Championship point. And it's the chequered flag as the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix for Lewis Hamilton, who strengthens his grip then at the top of the table. Red Bull, they thought they might have had the pace. Certainly in qualifying it was close, but the margin of victory in the end was 16 seconds between Hamilton and Verstappen. It's back to the drawing board. It's Milton Keynes once again. Red Bull have brought the challenge to Mercedes and to Lewis Hamilton this year. And he's responded with victory once more. Four races down, it's three wins for Hamilton, one for Verstappen. And the fizzy stuff, I'm sure, at Mercedes tastes an awful lot sweeter at the moment than it does at Red Bull.