Race Notes | 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix | 183 | Hamilton Ends the Streak in Red, Russell Answers & Mercedes' Achilles Heel

For five straight races, the story of the 2026 season was Kimi Antonelli. In Barcelona, the story changed.

Kimi did not finish. Lewis Hamilton won his first Grand Prix in Ferrari red. And a result that had looked settled for weeks finally broke open.

In this Race Notes episode, Sabrina works through a Spanish Grand Prix decided by strategy and nerve as much as speed. Hamilton started on softs, committed early to a three-stop, and was closing on the lead when a late virtual safety car reshaped the race. Whether that safety car handed him the win or simply made an inevitable one easier is the first thing Sabrina takes apart.

Mercedes let George Russell and Kimi Antonelli race each other. Two title contenders, one constructors' prize, and a high-degradation track with Ferrari within striking distance. Sabrina works through whether that was the right call, and what the timing of the safety car and Kimi's late retirement may have spared the team.

Then there is George. After Monaco, Sabrina asked on this show whether his slump was a pattern or a blip. Barcelona gave an answer. She gets into what his weekend actually showed, and why she is not buying the narrative forming around him.

Kimi was extraordinary again until his car broke. Charles Leclerc ran up front before a power steering failure ended his day. And behind the win sits a quieter problem at Ferrari, the one Lando Norris pointed at afterward, that Sabrina is not ready to look past.

A few threads she is deliberately holding for the Race Review with Dick and Joe: the politics around the engine rules, a telling moment between the two Alpines, and the questions she still wants answered before she commits to a verdict.

Five wins, then a reversal. A first win in red. And a Mercedes team that may be dominant and vulnerable at the same time. This is where the 2026 season stops being a coronation and starts being a fight.

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Episode Transcript

Spe (00:02):
Twenty twenty six Barcelona Grand Prix race notes Sabrina's
race notes number one LewisHamilton, the win and what it
answered.
This was the race that had beenwaiting to see from Lewis and
Red.
Not just a win, but a win thatlast year insisting that

(00:24):
was the car and not the driver.
On Sunday he showed that whenhim the tools, he can still
And he did.
When I kept coming back to ishow much of this was strategy
and seasoning rather than rawluck.
Starting on the soft was not thecrazy call some made it out to

(00:44):
be.
As Peter Windsor put it in hisBarcelona rewards short stints,
softs is a different animal thanThe soft let loose get off the
year when the Mercedes haveAnd even if he had not led into

(01:06):
turn one, it bought him room toread the race and extend from my
seat.
That strategy looked like itcame straight out of Lewis's own
bank of experience at thiscircuit.
I hope that means his new raceengineer, Fred Vasseur, and the
rest of Ferrari are leaning onwhat Lewis knows for his sake
and theirs.
I hope they are pulling all inhealth issue Fred Vasseur was

(01:33):
I imagine a result like thisas for Lewis.
The decision to bring Lewis inon lap twenty eight was a good
one.
It pressed Mercedes to decideRussell wanted to.
After that stop, Lewis had toothers, and he did it like a man
under him on the VSC for Alonso.

(01:56):
Yes, it helped him.
It dropped his final stop to acheap one and handed him track
position with the tireadvantage.
But I do not buy that it handedHe was already on that
The VSC was the chef's kiss onNot the reason for it.
Russell himself said Lewis couldthe pace backs that up.

(02:22):
This was not a win given toTwo smaller things I want on the
Lando Norris said afterward thatLewis had taken a sledgehammer
to the doubts about him, and Iagree.
I had wanted to see how deep adig, even if digging meant
without the win.

(02:42):
For him to actually get the winAnd the read that the ground
effect regulation cycle wasnever Lewis friend rings true to
me.
Those rules did not suit how heand this car suits him better.
I will say the personal layer ofthis stayed with me, as well as
someone who has made a majorstrategic professional change

(03:04):
myself.
I understand how vision andbrutal that can be.
Watching Lewis at Barcelonaand look past the people,
your bones about yourself.
Some will stand beside you andSome will stand beside you and
trip you up whether they mean toor not.

(03:25):
Some will shout from a distance,And some will quietly hope you
But never say so.
In the end it is you and theown instincts and your own past.
Deciding to see it through.
On Sunday, Lewis, at minimum,met the goal of winning in
Ferrari Red.

(03:46):
Whether he can go on to win athat red, maybe, just maybe.
And if he does, I will be gladNumber two.
Mercedes letting them race andMercedes let their drivers race
and I think that was the rightcall.

(04:06):
At least here.
Toto could have managed it fromand Kimi fight gave both of them
It let them get it out of theirGeorge got to feel good with the
Kimi kept his edge.
If Kimi's car had not failed atthe end, both would have been on
that podium.
A well earned P2 and P3 andwith big points haul and real

(04:33):
I think the reason they wereMercedes learned its lesson from
For now, off the leash is theIf team orders eventually come
into play to secure a title,that will be understandable and
even expected, but that is forthe future.
Here is the part I cannot stopThe VSC and then Kimi's DNF may

(04:58):
have saved Mercedes from aquestion they did not want to
answer for most of the backhalf.
They were in a near stalemate.
The two cars barely a secondKimi was relentless and clearly
high track when Ferrari was aof decision that can come back

(05:20):
David Coulthard made this pointThe margins this year are so
teammates battling can itselftime is the very margin that
when you know Ferrari can win.
Letting your drivers race playsI do not have a clean answer for

(05:44):
Mercedes, because I do not knowI do not know whether Mercedes
rules, or what understandingscamps and the team.
What I do know is that this isMercedes two title contenders,
harming the team's real prize,the money is.

(06:08):
As Jolyon Palmer pointed out,you cannot expect George or Kimi
to truly help each other rightnow.
For the drivers, it is about theFor Ferrari, it is about winning
That distinction is the wholeSo even with the win going to
conclusion the commentators did.
Mercedes has an Achilles heelThe reliability is the question

(06:35):
ahead of him is what this DNFNumber three, George Russell.
The answer to the question Isaid Barcelona is where we would
was a pattern or a blip.
Barcelona answered it.
He delivered.

(06:55):
Start with qualifying.
George put it on pole and he didhundredths over Lewis.
Think about who he beat.
His current teammate and hishe effectively took under that
That lap was a statement.
As DC said at the end of Q3,George is not out.

(07:19):
Qualifying also showed meGeorge's skill is matured and
the car rather than wrestle it.
Kimi is raw talent harnessingI described it to myself as a
gentleman polishing and pushingthe car versus a powerhouse
taming it.
This track, in these conditionson these tyres were awarded the

(07:42):
smooth approach.
The ability to guide the carThat played to George in the
What I loved was the defensiveLap after lap came in closed to
the very edge of track limits.
And George held him off cleanly.
It was seasoned, disciplinedIt also.

(08:04):
I will be honest, helped Lewisdefending was a lap Lewis spent
I'm not complaining.
I loved watching it.
I want to push back on theThere is a piece going around
saying he is running out ofexcuses, and that kind of line
is part of why I'm losingconfidence in some of today's

(08:25):
journalism.
George is a highly respectedTo say he is out of excuses is
The fact that he and Kimi arethis competitive with each other
shows George's skill and earnedhim respect.
There is a related version ofGeorge could become the next

(08:47):
to a favored teammate.
If that is what one writer wasWith a line about the funds
would want to talk it throughto it, because I'm not sure that
Here's where I land from.
Many within the F1 social mediadoes not like George, and so it

(09:11):
For whatever reason, he getsdrama away and what you see is a
skill, carrying himself as aoutside his control.
He is not the villain or theAs for Kimi, no question he is
around him has become genuinelyto root for.

(09:35):
It is easy for the public toeither or situation.
I can cheer for both and hopethe best driver wins without
pretending either one is notgood enough to share that
garage.
Ralf Schumacher was wrong aboutwrong about George too.
My hope is that George does whatas fuel, and that it makes Kimi

(10:02):
Let it be a great battle betweenNumber four Kimi Antonelli
relentless, measured and thenheartbreak.
Kimi was extraordinary again,What struck me, and what Peter

(10:23):
I could, is that hisIt was beautifully balanced and
measured with a craft Windsorcompared to Alain Prost and with
later moves he likened to NigelMansell.
I would not naturally connectWindsor explained it, I could
harnessing the car that MansellThat was Kimi on Sunday.

(10:47):
He spent the race on a knife'sBono was on the radio,
constantly reminding him, and onevery corner you held your
breath, wondering if that wouldbe the one that drew the five
second penalty.
By the closing laps.
He had closed right up toAnd I do wonder whether the
car more than we realised.

(11:08):
Here is a hard truth I noted fornot really shocking.
Even if Kimi had stayed outa track limits penalty anyway.
So the result we ended up withbeen the result regardless.
That does not make the DNF anyFrom everything we have seen, we

(11:32):
brilliance for Kimi.
This was brilliance.
The car could not finish NumberQuiet pace, then power steering.
Charles ran as an early racefirst stint trying to manage the
the second stint.
The data from Lewis's side ofthe garage told a different

(11:53):
story.
The fresher tyres were worthnearly two seconds and that is
the kind of fine grainedcommunication between driver and
team that has to lock into placequickly and consistently to win
these races.
Charles's battle with Georgeclean overtake that showed the
the value of grip.

(12:13):
George won it, I think, simplybecause he had better grip at
that moment.
That little fight helped Lewisand reinforce the need for
Charles to change tyres, whichFerrari executed without a
fumble.
To their credit, Ferrari'sseason was already gone after an
another weekend where LewisThat raises the question I am

(12:38):
If Charles starts followingLewis's direction on a car a bit
more.
Do we see him climb back upAnd does this become a four
driver fight at the front in afew races?
I don't know yet, but I amNumber six Ferrari's power
The vulnerability behind the winI do not want to lose sight of

(13:02):
which is the straight line.
The time loss on the straightsdrag your car, and that worries
Barcelona suggested that forcan offset it, even erase it on
But I'm not sure that holdsThis is what made Lando Norris
After losing to Lewis, he saidthey had a better engine.

(13:26):
I found that an odd thing to sayover why he would.
Whatever the motivation, itpoints at the same vulnerability
I saw.
Ferrari did deliver a realglad they did.
I hope it carries into the restthey need to leverage this

(13:46):
There is a more technical threadwhere the power unit picture
that to Dick and Joe.
Rather than pretend I haven'tMcLaren and Lando Norris.
A gap and a question I could notI had hoped going into Barcelona

(14:08):
and look like the benchmark teamstill have real gaps to close.
My read is that this traces backto McLaren's choice last year,
and stay focused on the twentytwenty five car, rather than
divert as much attention towardstwenty twenty six as some
competitors Mercedes among themdid.
Do I think they can close it?
Yes, and I think Oscar might beLando will be a part of it, but

(14:35):
and he'll push himself and theLando himself played a smart
conversation with Will Josephto save tires or chase Kimi.
He accepted he could not do bothand he made the right call for
the race.
The season and the team.
He needed a haul in points andThat is a world champion.

(14:59):
Thinking past the moment, I hadalso planned to use Barcelona to
judge where McLaren's gearboxand gear ratio philosophy
actually lands on a circuit witha mix of short and long
straights.
I will be honest, I did notglean enough to land a firm
view, and I'm looking forward tocomparing notes with the guys on
it.
Number eight Red Bull Max'squestion and Hagerty's gutsy day

(15:28):
The story I flagged was thebull's car changes would show up
himself had named.
What I saw was Max strugglingand the car showing real
vulnerabilities.
It is honestly a little strikingand Max were for the front of
Ferrari and McLaren.

(15:50):
But I will be candid, I did notwhether the fresh power unit and
against the max test.
I plan to dig into this and Iwant to compare notes with Dick
and Joe.
The bright spot was hadjar.
His passes were gutsy andI did wonder whether being that

(16:12):
harder racing for him overall,cars that were managing their
meant he would have to pitI'm not disagreeing with the
I just found it a genuinelywatch number nine alpine.
The ghastly reinstatement andThe sporting story here is the

(16:38):
Monaco podium and the fallout.
Red bull had not yet handed theit weighed an appeal against
And that makes complete sense toIf you can appeal, holding on to
the trophy until there is atruly final determination is the
sensible move.
Why would you not?

(16:58):
On the reinstatement itself, myinstinct is that more evidence
needs to be on the table to showthis was the best way to handle
it.
Giving Pierre this change inisolation feels a bit unfair,
especially with other teamsunhappy.
Whether they were served similarpenalties in the race or lost
positions.
I know this is controversial,but I would almost rather they

(17:20):
had removed the race resultentirely.
There are too many variablesdetermine what is truly fair.
I have a full line of reasoningon this, and I want to get into
it.
With the guys in the race.
I noticed Franco had to give wayI did not think much of it, but

(17:41):
started to wonder if that was aFranco was not delivering what
Pierre back ahead.
I want to ask Joe about thatclaim, I wonder whether by that
emotionally and under pressure,Alonso possibly taking a seat.

(18:06):
That is speculation on my part,and I would want to confirm it
before treating it as more thana hunch.
Number ten Audi Hulkenberg'sfreak luck and Bortoletto lost
art.
Nico's retirement was about asup from Los and running wide.
Hit the kill switch and shut thecar down, costing him what

(18:29):
looked like his first points ofthe season.
You cannot make that up.
Truly unfortunate.
Nico called it unbelievable andOn the other side of the garage,
Gabriel Bortoleto had a poorstart and never really
recovered.
Caught in traffic for the restNot the weekend Audi wanted from

(18:50):
Car number eleven racing Bulls,Lawsons wide moment and
Lindblad's education.
Racing bulls will rememberBarcelona for the wrong reason,
since it was Lawson running wideout of turn twelve that kicked
up the gravel that endedHulkenberg's race.
That is racing.
Not a knock on Lawson, but itThe part I enjoyed watching was

(19:15):
the rookie Arvid Lindblad in theearly laps, around laps eight
and nine, and his exchanges withHajar.
Those scraps are where a youngreal time, and I want to keep an
Number twelve.
The rest of the grid.
A hard weekend for Williams,A few teams had afternoons they

(19:40):
Williams said all weekend thatthis track did not suit their
car.
So Carlos Sainz had his work cutout for him despite his strong
record here.
Unfortunate that it was one ofI could not find enough on how
So I want to ask the guys whatOverall, Haas did not bring the

(20:05):
with Ollie Bearman retiring andI've been bullish on Bearman, so
I want to hear what Dick and Joethink the real takeaways are for
Haas.
Aston Martin had a rough one.
Alonso stricken car triggeredthe VSC that reshaped the lead
fight and Lance stroll did notfinish either.

(20:27):
For Cadillac, the grid's newday they wanted.
Bottas retired and Perez cameA note on the duo politics and
why I'm holding it for thereview.
The other thing I've beentracking is a political side of
all this.
The duo question and the broaderfight over the engine rules,

(20:50):
including the sixty over fortypower split proposal and the
manufacturer pushback.
I expected it to surface in theJoe wrote about a duo in this
I've read it and I'm lookingforward to getting into it
properly with Joe in the racereview.
This is the kind of governancequestion I care about and it
deserves a room to do itjustice.

(21:13):
Number fourteen why I love thissport and what I'm watching
next.
More than anything, BarcelonaThat reminds me why I love this
It was strategic planning,talent, instinct, experience,
moment all mixed into one.

(21:34):
Luis read this circuit trustedrace come to him.
Mercedes walked a tight ropebetween two contenders and a
team prize.
Ferrari spotted an opening andThat is the three dimensional
chess that makes this more thana race.
A few things I'm carrying intoDoes Louis win and Charles,

(21:56):
trying to follow his lead on thecar, mean we could be looking at
a four driver fight at the frontbefore long?
And where do McLaren and Redwe get to Austria?
I do not have the answers yet.
That is exactly why I will be