Lewis Hamilton is delighted to have won today's Spanish Grand Prix, made even sweeter by the fact he had to fight hard for it. The Brit set the pace in yesterday's qualifying session and started the race from pole position. However, it was clear that he would need to dig deep after lap 1, as Vettel got ahead after the first corner.
Hamilton was behind the German for two-thirds of the race and the Silver Arrows played a clever strategy to make sure they were close to Vettel. The Mercedes crew called Hamilton into the pits under the VSC which gave him time to close up the gap to Vettel.
Upon Vettel pitting, the two emerged side by side at turn 1 and contact was made but both cars came away unscathed. Hamilton wasn't phased and passed Vettel a couple of laps later, stating that is how races should always be won.
"The team did an incredible job today, that's how racing should be, as close as it could be, Sebastian [Vettel] was incredibly close, incredibly fast," he said. "The team did a great job with strategy; at the start I don't really know what went wrong, I need to sit with my guys, it wasn't good enough. I thought I did everything I was supposed to do but I got a bit of wheel spin."
Speaking about his tension-filled exchange with Vettel, the three-time world champion said: "I felt like I was run out of road but I was alongside, so it was definitely close. But again that's how racing should be and I loved it, I wouldn't change it for the world."
Fergal Walsh
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