‘This one’s something else’ – Hamilton reacts to magical maiden win with Ferrari in Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton believes that his victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was unlike any other in his career, with the Ferrari driver delivering a brilliant performance to beat Mercedes’ George Russell.

After staying under the radar throughout practice, Hamilton’s final effort in Qualifying was enough to secure P2 on the grid – missing out on the top spot by just 0.064s to his former team mate.

It looked as though the Scuderia’s initial decision to start him on soft tyres while Mercedes opted for the medium compound didn’t pay off, as he remained second, but their three-stop strategy played out to perfection thanks to a Virtual Safety Car.

After pitting for a second time, Hamilton took the net race lead as he posted a series of flying laps that cut into Russell’s advantage before Fernando Alonso pulled onto the grass with an issue, bringing out the VSC and allowing him to box again without losing too much time.

From there, the seven-time World Champion held off the Silver Arrows and built an unassailable lead to claim a spectacular maiden Grand Prix win with Ferrari, marking the culmination of months of work behind the scenes.

“First I have to start and say a huge grazie to everyone here, my team here at Ferrari, everyone back at the factory, Fred [Vasseur] for believing in me and bringing me to this team,” Hamilton said after the race. “I started out a dream last year which seemed almost impossible during my time last year, but we never gave up hope and the team just continued to lift me up.

“We made so many changes and we made so many improvements, and on top of that I’ve got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for. Thank you, thank you to everybody.”

Asked where this win ranks among his 106 total victories, he added: “They’re all special in their own way but this one’s something else.

“I watched Ferrari have all that success when I was younger, watching it on TV, and as I’ve been racing here I’d always watch the screens and wonder what it would be like to win in that car, and it’s come.

“Everyone worked so hard for it, everyone truly deserves it, so I am forever grateful to them and this is just the first I hope of many. But great pit stops today, great strategy, the car felt fantastic, and forza Ferrari.”

Although Hamilton’s move to the team was highly-anticipated, it didn’t immediately produce the results he wanted in his first campaign, which saw him finish sixth with an 86-point deficit to team mate Charles Leclerc.

Determined to turn things around for this season, he and Ferrari have made numerous changes to his engineering support and car set-up, helping him take a monumental step forward and sit P2 in the current standings.

Reflecting on the improvement, he explained: “I think [I’ve just been] working my way back to my centre and I’ve got great prep. I’ve trained so hard to be here today.

“There’s so much work that I’m doing in the background, but also again the team are giving me that confidence with the changes that we’ve made, believing in and trusting in the decisions and the things that I’ve asked for, and we’re slowly starting to see it just all come together.

“And I guess I’m just happy in my life, so I’m in a good place. I love doing what I do – there’s no greater feeling than racing a Formula 1 car.

“It’s a long, long way to go and [Mercedes] still have great pace, as you can see. But we’re going to keep working, we’re going to keep trying to close that gap. It’s not over, that’s for sure.”