Lewis Hamilton celebrates his first Formula One victory since joining Ferrari Sunday in Spain. (F1 photo)

By Thomas Hughes, SWN Staff Writer

BARCELONA, Spain (June 14, 2026) — The numbers 106, 686, one, and three all share one connection, at least as it pertains to the MSC Cruises Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

They’re all present in Lewis Hamilton’s first Formula One victory in the scarlet red colors of Scuderia Ferrari.

The obvious: one points to Hamilton’s finishing position in Sunday’s race. Three was the number of pit stops he took, or the number of teams he’s won with in F-1, depending on which stat you want to use.

While the majority of the field opted for a two-stop strategy, Hamilton went for three, taking advantage of a Virtual Safety Car and essentially earning a free stop. After that, Hamilton pulled away en route to his first victory since July 28, 2024 – a 686-day wait.

"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,” Hamilton said on-track after winning the 106th grand prix of his storied F-1 career. “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."

It’s been 707 days since Hamilton claimed an on-track victory; the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix initially saw Mercedes-AMG Petronas’ George Russell finish first before a post-race disqualification for not meeting minimum car weight promoted Hamilton to first.

As the British national anthem sounded, the feeling was perhaps not one of finality, but one of appreciation, as Hamilton is nearing retirement.

He turned 41 in January, and while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso (turning 45 on July 29) is also breaking the trend of drivers retiring before they hit their 40s, both are not too far away from the end of their careers.

To harken back to that sense of appreciation, moments such as Hamilton's victory carry a different weight than they once did. Six years ago, another win would have simply been added to a growing collection.

Now, each triumph feels increasingly significant, because opportunities to witness one of the sport's defining figures standing atop the podium are becoming rarer and rarer.

“This one’s something else,” Hamilton said of the win. “I always 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’d be like to win in that car. And it’s come, and everyone worked so hard for it. Everyone truly deserves it. So, I’m 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, yeah, Forza Ferrari.”

Hamilton’s former teammate Russell started on the pole and held off Hamilton with a whisk towards the outside. Ten laps in, Russell had pulled ahead by three seconds over the Ferrari man.

His pace, however, was waning due to tire degradation. By lap 12, the frontrunners began to pit, with Hamilton the first to go.

Russell held onto the lead after the cycle was complete, but on lap 23, a wrench was thrown. Ferrari called Hamilton back into the pits and immediately thereafter, Hamilton reeled down Russell in quick fashion.

Kimi Antonelli also closed in, though his buoyant nature on the track was encumbered by a black-and-white warning flag for exceeding track limits as he chased a sixth straight F-1 victory.

McLaren’s Lando Norris’ subsequent pit stop warranted pits for both Russell and Antonelli, vaulting Hamilton into a 15-second-plus lead over Russell. Hamilton, however, benefitted greatly when Alonso pulled off track, marking the eighth DNF for Aston Martin in seven races.

Hamilton pulled into the pits on lap 43, but with the benefit of all cars driving at a reduced pace, he came out three seconds ahead of Russell on fresh hard tires.

Behind him, Antonelli, who scooped up second from Russell, came to a stop on track with only four laps to go. The retirement trimmed his championship lead to 41 points, though Antonelli continues to hold a race-plus-lead over Hamilton and Russell.

Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc also failed to finish, citing broken power steering, while the former cruised to a 19.5-second victory over Russell.

“How do you find the right words to express an emotion that’s beyond your wildest dreams?” Hamilton said. “You know, I truly believed in my decision in joining Ferrari. I truly believed in what this team could achieve, what we could achieve together.”

“It’s good to be back on the podium and have a bit of a clean race from my side,” runner-up Russell said. “But Ferrari [were] mighty impressive today and, yeah, we need to keep on pushing.”

Norris finished third for his second podium of the season, while Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri rounded out the top five.

Verstappen’s teammate, Frenchman Isack Hadjar, scuttled from sixth to 14th on the opening lap. However, over the remaining 65 laps, he recovered, ending the race with a sixth-place finish — his third straight top-six finish of the season.

It followed a Monaco Grand Prix where he technically crossed the line in third before Alpine’s Pierre Gasly’s penalties were lifted.

Gasly himself finished in seventh, netting his sixth points finish of the year and remaining eighth in the championship. A pair of Racing Bulls in New Zealand’s Liam Lawson and Brit Arvid Lindblad, plus Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, rounded out the points-paying positions.

Colapinto finished eighth on the road, but he was assessed a 10-second penalty postrace for failing to slow during a yellow flag. 

Despite the penalty, Colapinto still claimed his third points finish in four races, continuing what has been a strong start to the season for Alpine. Through seven races, the Enstone-based outfit sits fifth in the championship after finishing in 10th and last in 2025.

Two weeks later, F-1 will be back when it travels to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Verstappen has won four of the last eight renditions of the Austrian G.P., while Russell and Norris won in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

The finish:

Race (66 laps): 1. 44-Lewis Hamilton, 2. 63-George Russell, 3. 4-Lando Norris, 4. 3-Max Verstappen, 5. 81-Oscar Piastri, 6. 6-Isack Hadjar, 7. 10-Pierre Gasly, 8. 30-Liam Lawson, 9. 41-Arvid Lindblad, 10. 43-Franco Colapinto, 11. 5-Gabriel Bortoleto, 12. 55-Carlos Sainz, 13. 31-Esteban Ocon, 14. 11-Sergio Perez, 15. 16-Charles Leclerc, 16. 12-Kimi Antonelli, 17. 87-Oliver Bearman, 18. 23-Alexander Albon, 19. 14-Fernando Alonso, 20. 27-Nico Hulkenberg, 21. 77-Valtteri Bottas, 22. 18-Lance Stroll.