HAMMERTIME wins Lewis Hamilton his FIRST GRAND PRIX for Ferrari | 2026 Barcelona GP | F1 Catalunya

[00:00:00] Meditieren, Yoga, Joggen, nichts entspannt mich. Echt? Mich entspannt meine Steuer total. Steuer? Wie Finanzamt? Die Steuererklärung? Ja, ich hab ganz locker über 1000 Euro zurück bekommen. Hast du geheime Connections? Nö, nur die Visu-Steuer-App. Wow, und das ist einfach? Klar, die macht fast alles automatisch. Plötzlich fühle ich mich so entspannt. Hol dir dein Geld zurück. Tiefenentspannt mit Visu-Steuer.

[00:00:30] Iconic race win in Formula 1's history. Because the most successful driver has won with the most iconic team out there. It's bigger than anything else. It's bigger than anything else. I was thinking of parallels. The only thing that would have come close would have been Senna winning in Ferrari. But it's Senna's disciple. It's a man who's idolized Senna, who's now won for the team that Senna could never compete for.

[00:00:58] Lewis Hamilton is a race winner at Ferrari. This is such an insane moment and we're here to dissect it all. Welcome to the Inside Line F1 Podcast. And straight off the fan code Hindi F1 broadcast is myself, Samuel Arora. And straight off the Wireplay F1 broadcast in Norway is Kunal Shah. Welcome along, Kunal.

[00:01:19] Welcome along. And we had to celebrate this together with all of y'all because Lewis Hamilton, the most successful driver of all time, has won his first Grand Prix. And it's important to straight Grand Prix because he did win a sprint race last year. This is the ultimate prize in Formula 1, winning a Grand Prix format.

[00:01:39] And he has won a Grand Prix with the most iconic, but also the most successful team in Formula 1. And the last time this happened, Samuel, was Michael Schumacher back in 2006. So it's been 20 plus years in the waiting. I wouldn't say in the making, it's been 20 months in the making. But we now have the most successful driver winning with the most successful team in Formula 1.

[00:02:05] And what a victory that was probably the most emotional and the most iconic race win of recent times, or maybe most of recent times, or all of recent times. Yeah, yeah. Even, I mean, Max winning here in 2016 was different because that was more of a shocker. That was more of a hammer hitting your head and you're like, what? This guy's so good.

[00:02:29] But this, this had more of an emotional build. This was like a good biryani where all the masalas are just slowly starting to come about. And the weight just made it more special because of the questions that were also put forward. I mean, just a few months ago, Kunal, we were discussing Lewis potentially retiring. And everyone was talking about, is this guy good enough to even go out and compete with Leclerc? And look at where we are. Look at how the tables have turned so quickly.

[00:02:56] Can you imagine four qualifying sessions? Sprint in Miami, Grand Prix in Miami, Sprint in Canada, Grand Prix in Canada, and now Monaco. Wow, I think I just added one. But anyway, there's been four competitive qualifying sessions where Lewis Hamilton has outqualified Charles Leclerc. And this hasn't happened to Leclerc since he joined Ferrari in 2019. So Hamilton has done what Sebastian Vettel couldn't do to Charles Leclerc.

[00:03:24] And what Carlos Sainz couldn't do to Charles Leclerc. And Lewis Hamilton is now the only driver in Formula One history to have won a race with McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari. That is a killer record. McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari. Like, Lewis, the only thing left for you to do now is go and win a race with Williams after it's all done. It would be perfect. Well, well, well about that.

[00:03:50] It's going to be, that's going to be some career arc for him if that happens. But what, what a moment. Just seeing Fred out there, just seeing Lewis with tears in his eyes. And during the entire podium ceremony, looking at him, just celebrating with his team. Like, his eyesight and his vision was entirely at them the whole time. And it's such an evolution, right? Because we remember the old Lewis of McLaren who was just super selfish, wanted to do things his way, would go out and celebrate all by himself. Like, hey, I'm the guy. I'm the winner.

[00:04:19] And the team's kind of just there to facilitate me and give me the best car. But this turnaround, this maturity, this emotion, it's really, really fun to see. It was fun to see. And he was, he was truly a driver coming to the fore with the team coming to the fore. He was so pleased of how the team stood up to what he was needing to do. And what do we, what do we mean by that? Firstly, Lewis now has, he said he's rejigged his engineering team.

[00:04:47] We already know of the carbon industry brake discs he's using along with the Brembo calipers. All of these changes were pushed by Frederic Versour, who, like I've been saying, has been his best wingman in that Ferrari setup. So Lewis got those changes. Those changes have enabled him to extract performance. And let's remember, Ferrari brought a lot of upgrades to Barcelona. They halved the gap to Mercedes in qualifying. And Lewis on that front row statistically was already going for the race win.

[00:05:17] But what Lewis did, Samuel, was also Ferrari and delivering on the upgrades that the factory brought. So it was a beautiful example of teamwork. The factory identifying weaknesses, which were fed in by the race engineering team on track and the drivers, delivering upgrades to the track. And then the race engineering team on track actually extracting performance from those upgrades and the drivers driving to it. And Samuel, what a brilliant tyre strategy by Ferrari.

[00:05:46] They started him on that soft tyre. And what did you think when Lewis was on the soft? Be honest. I thought this is a good idea because he can get positions at the start and run away. But I was disappointed he didn't do that. In fact, I'm going to put that question forward to you, Kunal. Was Ferrari genuinely good at the strategy today? Or was it just the VSC that put them up ahead?

[00:06:12] Because at that point, before the VSC, Lewis was dramatically losing time. I remember him being two-tenths off Russell every time in the first sector. It was not in a very good position. Well, well, I think Ferrari's tyre strategy was on point. They were going for a three-stopper versus Mercedes on the two-stopper. And I'll tell you why it was on point for a couple of reasons. That hard tyre was forced to be used in the race. It wasn't delivering all that performance.

[00:06:40] George Russell was struggling on that hard tyre. And how many compounds or how many stints did he run on the hard tyre? Two. So if we were to just do the math for a large part of the race, George Russell was off the best tyre. But what about Lewis Hamilton? He got the starts on the soft, got the soft out of the way. He was on the medium. And that stint on the medium was what brought him into play in the race. And I think Lewis Hamilton would have won even without the VSC.

[00:07:09] Yes, he would have needed to overtake at least one Mercedes car, if not the two of them. But George Russell was struggling on that medium tyre more than the Ferrari. That's my guess. Or that's my educated guess. I still wonder though. I still wonder. Like, had the VSC not been there, would there have been enough pace in Lewis to be able to catch Russell in the crew? I'm just not too sure. I'll tell you why I think so. Because Lewis was supposed to pit another time.

[00:07:38] So he would have come out on fresher tyres when he would have pit again. Okay. And when, which he did anyway on the hard tyre. After he pitted on the hard in the final stint, he was still able to pull away from George Russell. So the Ferrari on the hard and crucially, the Ferrari in clean air was the quicker of the two cars, I would say. And hence, my question to you, and actually before I deliver that question, since you mentioned about the hard, the soft tyre at the start, to me, that signaled intent, that

[00:08:07] signaled risk, that signaled experience, that signaled, I'm going to go for the lead of the race, get track position. I'm going to do what it takes to get ahead of the Mercedes. It's okay. It didn't work, but I'm going to do what I can to get there. So Lewis Hamilton either was going to get first position and hold, or at least he kept second position because Ferrari start advantage is now nullified. The other teams are as quick because of the whole pre-start procedure. And we won't get to that. So that was one where they signaled intent, they took the risk and that's what they delivered.

[00:08:36] And hence my question to you is, which was the quicker car in Barcelona in clean air? Was it the Mercedes or was it the Ferrari? That's the question I was going to put forward to you. You're in the hot spot. Oh man, I think it evolved. I genuinely think it evolved. I think it was the Mercedes for the first part of the race. It was Russell being the faster one.

[00:09:03] Then midway through, it was Kimi Antonelli being the fastest driver. And then in the final stint, Lewis Hamilton just ended up being the fastest. So I really don't have a conclusive answer as to who was the fastest team in this case. I think it really kept on changing as the race went on, which is the fascinating part. Like looking at the data as the race went on, I was wondering surely, right? Like it's only five odd laps that Mercedes have done extra on their tires. Okay, maybe they can come back in that final stint.

[00:09:32] But that turned out to be the crucial decisive blow. I mean, at the end, that turned out to be a bit too much. And maybe that's the reason why I'm inconclusive. But if I take those five extra laps out from the equation, you know, it generally makes me wonder whether Mercedes were the fastest. And if it was just a case of the VSC helping Lewis out. No doubt that Lewis was incredible throughout the entire weekend. Much better than Schaal. Much more composed.

[00:09:59] But I think those extra five laps that the Mercedes did in comparison to Lewis made the equation a little skewed, Kunal. Because in that final stint, Lewis looked faster. Maybe it was just a case of him being on fresher tires resulting in him being faster. But generally, I feel the Mercedes were the faster cars. I liked how you said it evolved through the race. I think in clean air with these upgrades or, you know, long stints, I think the Ferrari was the faster car.

[00:10:27] Mercedes was definitely faster over single lap. In fact, even over the single lap, they just had better power unit deployment. But that's what actually makes a difference in 2026. So I would say it's still a performance differentiator. But to me, Ferrari has caught up. Lewis Hamilton is only 41 points away from the Drivers World Championship and Kimi Antonelli. Is this game on? Are we going to see a Hamilton versus Antonelli? And maybe versus a Russell Drivers Championship battle?

[00:10:56] Given that you think Mercedes is the quicker car. And I think it was Ferrari that was quicker in Barcelona. Well, I do think there is a solid possibility. And Lewis Hamilton himself said, we've got to keep pushing. We've got to keep taking it one race at a time. Kimi Antonelli was on course to being 71 points ahead of George Russell. And that's gone now, essentially. It's now only 50 points.

[00:11:20] So that's essentially 20 points lost by Antonelli in this whole bad luck saga that he faced. And Lewis Hamilton is now pretty close too. The gap between them. 41 points. Yeah, 41 points now. That's not impossible. Honestly. It's not impossible. Especially when you think of the reliability issues that the Mercedes drivers have had. Finally. That's a big talking point, by the way. Yes. Eight out of eight Mercedes drivers have reliability issues.

[00:11:47] Even Antonelli, who was not having reliability issues all the way to Barcelona, now finally had reliability issues. So that's one aspect. Mercedes has reliability gremlins to fix. They will use the Aduo to fix that. Ferrari, who's looking like they've got the better chassis, is going to use the Aduo to actually try and get as close to Mercedes or even try and leapfrog them. So to me, this championship is not over. And remember we made fun of Fred for saying that it's going to be a different world championship after Miami.

[00:12:16] Well, guess who the joke seems on now. You and me, Samuel Arora. We have been pranked badly. And Fred Vassar was right. He's different to Mati Abinotto. Let's just spit it out there. Man, it is turning out to be a different championship. And in this whole picture, the driver who I feel the most bad for is my pick for the world championship at the start of the season, George Russell. Wait, wait.

[00:12:45] Are we going to George Russell? Have we celebrated Lewis's win enough? Because I still don't want to move on, given how beautiful this race has been. We'll talk about George Russell, right? It's okay, Samuel. He's third at the driver's championship. But there is this part of me which is so enamored by how Lewis has turned it around. And there is something so Schumacher-esque about it. That he's gone into the team. He's pulled it in his direction. Tell me, do you think this is still Leclerc's Ferrari?

[00:13:14] Or is it now Hamilton's Ferrari? I think it is now finally Ferrari. Where both drivers have to fight for it. But it's... You can tell. You can tell. I wouldn't say the rug is being swept away from under Leclerc. But there's a tug for sure. There's a tug for sure that we did not feel last year. Charles Leclerc crashing in qualifying again at turn four. He was trying to carry more speed into that corner. Do you know why? Because Lewis Hamilton was actually able to carry more speed into that corner.

[00:13:44] So Leclerc is definitely rattled. He is scratching his head as to where Lewis has found pace. And for a 40-year-old, I think he's the first 40-year-old driver to win a world championship level Grand Prix. And to me, isn't he the first 40-year-old? Because I don't... Are you? Or it's the first time... Yeah, maybe in that era, there must be... There definitely was someone in that era. Fagioli, Farina, Fangio, Tarufi, Brabham. Yeah, but that's a different era, right?

[00:14:14] Since Jack Brabham in 1970, Lewis Hamilton is the oldest driver to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Also, the largest winning margin of the season, 19.5 seconds to George Russell. So to me, you know, his 106th Grand Prix was fantastic. And I remember F1 guy Dan wrote that Michael Schumacher won his first race for Ferrari at Barcelona in June.

[00:14:39] And now Lewis Hamilton has won his first race for Ferrari in Barcelona in June. And Lewis Hamilton now has seven wins in Barcelona, higher than any other driver. Well, let's add to your stat because I've found something thanks to mostly F1. Great list that they've put up.

[00:14:59] Hamilton has become the oldest Formula 1 race winner since Nigel Mansell back in Australia in 1994 when he came back to Formula 1. Hamilton, 41 years, 5 months and 7 days. Mansell was 41 years, 3 months and 5 days. Wow. It's been a while. Let's not underestimate the number. Let's not underestimate the achievement.

[00:15:27] This is from a guy who didn't have a single podium last year. Let's remember that. So he's gone from no podiums to several podiums and now a race win. Tell me, had you given up on Lewis Hamilton midway? No. You knew he would always bounce back. Yeah. It's Lewis Hamilton we're talking about. Come on. I mean, Michael Schumacher came back from retirement to be able to put his Mercedes midfield car into pole at Monaco. You just don't lose talent. And this is now, of course, Lewis's first Grand Prix win with a Ferrari power unit.

[00:15:56] Up until now, his 105 Grand Prix wins have come with a Mercedes-Benz power unit. It works. It works. What a story. You know the line I love the most? He said, thank you to all my wonderful fans. I've got the best fan base that any athlete could have. And thank you for reminding me who I really am. That was insane. That was insane. This has to go down as one of the craziest quotes of Formula 1 history ever. A driver acknowledging that. A driver thanking their fans for that.

[00:16:25] It's one of the most iconic moments. Seriously. Oh yeah, absolutely. And, you know, he was not without issues because he was nursing a straight line mode issue on his car. So he was manually having to shut it on and off each time. There were times when he had downshifting issues. He was complaining about not having grip and whatever. So Lewis is actually, you know, that middle stint was hammer time. Literally. There was nothing better than what I've seen in recent times. That middle stint. And then, of course, the sector 2 that he pulled off in qualifying.

[00:16:53] Half a second faster than he ever went, you know, in that part of the track sommel. But now, I feel at ease. I feel like we've celebrated it enough. I'm happy to talk about George Russell, who would have gone from P1 to P3. Do you think he defended half-heartedly against Kimi Antonelli when he did? Or was he really aggressive and then bailed out of it? I just didn't think he had enough pace compared to Kimi. I just didn't think he had enough pace.

[00:17:21] Had it been a street circuit, it's a different story. Because there's no... I mean, you have walls, right? So you can position your car better. And there are real consequences to it. But you can't do that at a circuit like Barcelona, where there's acres of width. He did. I mean, he tried. At the middle of turn one, he positioned his car down the middle. And Kimi had to find the other way around. But Kimi was just faster than that stint. And I was just waiting. When is this guy going to get past? And is it going to be so easy? And it was. It was easy.

[00:17:51] And, you know, I don't think George even had enough power or pace or performance to actually fight back immediately. Because that's what I typically thought. That we're going to see some yo-yo racing. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And now with Luis, George and Lando, we've had seven Grand Prixs in 2026. And we've had seven different podium combinations in 2026. And for the first time in 2026, we are not seeing a Kimi Antonelli on the podium. That is big. That is big.

[00:18:21] He should have been there. He should have been there. He should have been second. But the line that sticks out in my head is what George Russell said a few races ago. I think it was Canada after he had his power unit issue. He said, the odds will even out. I'm not too worried. That happens. It's good for Kimi that these odds are evening out earlier instead of later in the championship. Like, you'd rather have your engine issues early in the season rather than later. Because otherwise, it's things far, far more.

[00:18:50] Like, I remember Luis in 2016. He was in it. But then the DNF in Malaysia just conks it all off. So, if you've got to have just putting it out there, like one big DNF of the season because of mechanical issues, might as well have it early. So, Kimi and George are even that way. Well, they're not entirely even. I think George has still had more issues. Even if they didn't really give him a DNF. There were times when his, you know, power unit failed to fire up at the right time. And he had to go outside of sync in qualifying. Anyway. But, you know, you're right.

[00:19:21] Antonelli is now at a DNF. And this is why Samuel V said that that 66-point lead will come handy. First is, you know, a random DNF which is coming up for Mercedes power units. But also, any amateur mistakes that he may make in his first Grand Prix challenging or, you know, world championship challenging season. So, he's still got a 41-point lead. And truthfully, had he finished second, which he seemed to be on course to, he would have still added some more points on. And the gap he's got to George Russell. So, Kimi Antonelli was not fussed.

[00:19:51] And I believe he lost out in qualifying, not because of performance issues, but because of, I would say, experience issues. He was not. He was struggling to make the tyre last the entire lap. And I think that comes with experience around the layout, around the hot circuit of Barcelona. And I think that's probably what showed up. Yeah. And he admitted to it. He said he was overdriving it in qualifying. But then as the race went on, he just kept on getting better and better and better. And that for a team boss is great news.

[00:20:19] If you're Toto Wolf, you're happy about how your drive is raced. But you're deeply unhappy about those reliability issues because it's becoming a concern. Nobody's talking about how unreliable the Mercedes power units have been apart from us, Kunal. Let's just put it out there. This is probably the most unreliable power unit at the moment. It is not the fastest. It is not the most dominant. Then it is the most unreliable power unit there at the moment.

[00:20:47] And yeah, they're also not going to talk about it because, you know, Formula One is a PR platform. They literally, when you look into Formula One's archives and you Google Mercedes F1 engine blow up, you will never see a clip show up. So try that and thank me later. But I think, yeah, it's just down to reliability. And that said, I believe even it's not that the Ferrari was entirely reliable. You know, Charles Leclerc had a power steering issue and then he couldn't engage the clutch.

[00:21:14] So very interestingly, when he came into the pits, he said nobody in front of the car because I'm unable to hit neutrals. He wasn't sure where he might stop or so on. So I'm sure the heat compounds these issues as well. But all in all, you know, the first 8, 10, 15 laps of the race, I was like, oh my God, this is the good old boring Barcelona Grand Prix or Spanish Grand Prix when nothing was happening. People were staying, you know, one or two seconds behind saving tires. And I said, even yo-yo racing was not happening in Barcelona.

[00:21:41] But when the action picked up, when Luis came, you know, closer and he pitted and he was, you know, on that medium stint, that's when we were like, oh my goodness, this Grand Prix is going to turn around on its head. And I love that. This is typical Barcelona. It just takes one instigator to force everyone into the pit lane. And that's where all the cards end up tumbling.

[00:22:04] And my God, like I read the strategy document before the race and it said that staying out after a point, I mean, if you're on the mediums and if someone's on the hards and it's beyond lap 12, it could mean three seconds in pace loss. And I was like, sure. Okay. Like before the race, you can't comprehend what that number actually means, right? But then you see the gaps stumbling in the middle of the race and the undercuts happening. You're like, my God, this is such a big factor.

[00:22:30] And that just makes it thoroughly entertaining how one lap can completely change the dynamic of a battle. Like I remember Leclerc stayed out for an extra lap and he came out with his gap to Piastri half. And the similar case existed for Antonelli and Russell as well. Antonelli and Norris. And Norris. Yeah, exactly. His gap was half done. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was, the undercut was strong because, you know, you could extract so much more performance on the new rubber. And there were a mix of strategies. There were three stoppers.

[00:22:59] There were two stoppers as we expected. And, you know, the Tifosi is here. He's saying that the fun fact, Spain from 2021 till now has either been won by Pol or by P2 every alternate year. So 2021 was won by Pol, 22 was won by P2, 23 was won by Pol, 24 was won by P2, 25 was won by Pol and 26 was now won by P2.

[00:23:22] And that means 33 out of 36 Grands Prix in Barcelona have been won from the front row. Which means Spanish GP 2028, Fernando Alonso must be on Pol. Just have to put it out there. Just have to put it out there. We hope because Fernando Alonso had a horrible race. He actually said, I wish I was sitting in the stands and watching the race because that's more fun than being in the car.

[00:23:46] He said that on the driver's parade, which I thought was brutally honest situation of where they are right now. Yeah. Did it hurt you, Kunal? Seeing Alonso just park up? Well. Has it hurt me? Yeah, I mean, I don't think that guy deserves that. And that's why these rumors of Fernando Alonso going to Alpine, which will be Gucci racing. He deserves the bad luck you mean? No, I don't think he deserves this much bad luck.

[00:24:14] You know, one can argue Fernando's not made the right choices. So, you know, you deserve to have the outcomes of these choices. But I'm just amazed how I think he's the unluckiest Formula One world champion of recent times and double Formula One world champion. But if Flavio Briatore, who anyway manages Fernando Alonso, is able to get Alonso back to Alpine, okay, with Gucci racing, are we going to see a reunion between Alonso and Briatore in Alpine with the beautiful colors of Gucci? I don't know what they are.

[00:24:44] But also Christian Horner as team principal. So Horner, who wanted Alonso at Red Bull Racing, could he finally get Alpine, Mercedes, Flavio Briatore and Fernando Alonso? And should Alonso take it? I think why not? Take it, Fernando. Please stay on the grid. We can't, we can't, can't, can't see your last race at the circuit, Barcelona, Catalonia be just a VSCD in it. Come on, that is just sad.

[00:25:11] But if there's a silver lining to it, it's Alonso's DNF that opened the door for his old rival to get that little stroke of luck to win his first race with Ferrari at the same circuit where he won his last Grand Prix. It's beautiful. It's, it's a, it's a good circle of life moment. It's a good circle of life. Sovic is here saying when is Aston Martin's next big upgrade due? Is it the mid-season break? Adrian Newey has said he's trying to bring it for Hungary.

[00:25:37] And he's trying to make sure that there is something for the drivers to cheer for because clearly right now, none of the, neither of the drivers are cheering, you know, with, with the challenges they have. And then Fernando's already said that with these upgrades, he's eager to see what the second half of the season looks like because he's like, it's definitely going to be different from the way our first half is. But it also sounded awful. Like, like, did he, did he hear the Aston Martin engine? Like, on the onboards? It, it just sounded awful. Like, I don't know.

[00:26:07] They, they need something big. Well, more than Aston Martin, I was also surprised by how McLaren were nowhere. I, I, this was a circuit where, you know, traditionally the chassis performance is always a differentiator. And I thought Ferrari, McLaren's had a decent chassis, but they had no chassis performance. And they were clearly the third fastest, you know, 25 odd seconds off Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton. They inherited the podium, but why not? You got to be there to inherit the podium.

[00:26:32] But largely it was, it was hardly a race for, for McLaren who clearly are struggling with this whole power unit integration since they're not a works team. For the first time, they're publicly talking about it as well. So McLaren were a disappointment. I would say Red Bull Racing was also a disappointment. They finished 40 seconds off Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen said, we just didn't have any grip on any of the three tire compounds.

[00:26:57] I wasn't surprised when I heard that because when a race car is overweight, it's tough to balance. And when it's tough to balance, it's just slow. And it also chews up its tires a lot more. And also to top that off, Max Verstappen expressing his displeasure about the strategy that was given to him in 2025, chose to only run with one set of hard compound tires. He was also boxed in for the kind of strategy he had available in the middle of the race as well.

[00:27:26] And I'm not saying it would have been better with the hard tires, but it's just a combination of all of this is just not helping with them. And it was bound to be more exposed at Barcelona than at a Monaco, right? Because this circuit requires a lot more of that grip. And Red Bull Racing is just not there yet, especially even the long straight. And also the RBR not having the best deployment in relation to Mercedes and Ferrari. But Samuel Max was quick to point out that he actually ran the tire strategy, which was the race winning strategy.

[00:27:55] He was 40 seconds off that pace. So it was just unfortunate. And it just shows that when you don't have the car, you cannot have strategy compensating for it. And which is why when Ferrari's strategy worked this time, it also worked because they had a quick car that was able to complement the strategy. And that said, do you think, I don't know if you've answered this. It's been a while and I've been going on and off with things freezing on my screen. But do you think George Russell maximized his Barcelona Grand Prix?

[00:28:22] Do you think he will walk away satisfied, apart from the fact that he's made inroads into Antonelli? But do you think he would think that he's maximized his result? That's the part, right? Because if I'm George Russell right now, I am unhappy as hell. Excuse me. Why is that? Oi, oi, oi. Yeah. Yeah, it's just, I mean, just not having as much pace as Kimmy Antonelli is firstly going to steam.

[00:28:49] Because that overtake just does not happen because you're on the wrong strategy or whatever. But just to be able to lose momentum as the weekend goes on is an alarming sign. It clearly means something's off, especially after all the quotes and all the things he said about finding his old rhythm and feeling like himself again. But you know what happened is, Russell, I'm just reading an article right now as we speak. Russell questioned why Mercedes brought him in for his first pit stop just moments after Lewis pitted for the first of his three pit stops.

[00:29:18] He said from that point, it made a two-stop strategy a challenge. And he said he wants to have a chat with Mercedes about the strategy. Which is fair. Every driver does this and they should question each other. Just as driving is questioned, your drivers are able to question strategy. But I believe the undercut was powerful and George Russell himself hadn't flown into the distance. He was barely a couple of seconds ahead. Lewis was able to keep with him. Lewis was able to go with him. And each time George Russell tried to open the gap.

[00:29:47] Because what happened in the races previous to Barcelona, that one of the Mercedes drivers could just open a gap and go. And then that just creates more strategy options for your team. So at the end of the day, they were just reacting to strategy. Just the way they chose to not react to Lewis's second stops while they were waiting to make their second stop much later. So it was one of those things where they had to react so that they don't lose track time to other slower cars. But having said that, do we have anything else? Was there anything bigger than Hamilton winning in Spain?

[00:30:17] And you know, that has taken so much of my brain space, heart space, all of that. Go for it. We shall end with the wackiest moment of the entire season. We normally do the Inside Line F1 podcast awards. And over there, we always come up with a category, rather with a criteria, which says the winner is never who you think it is. But I'd say we should already give one of our parody awards to this one moment. Because a driver lost out on points.

[00:30:43] Because some gravel hit the safety switch on his Formula One car. And so, he had to retire. Do you remember the videos that the Melbourne subway folks made? They were called Dumb Ways to Die. And there was a whole video game that came after it. A whole music video. A whole song. And it just became a popular thing in the early 2010s. This has to be one of the dumbest ways to retire. With gravel hitting, you safely switch.

[00:31:11] And that happened to Nico Hulkenberg, who was on course to score points for Audi. It's just weird and crazy. I just don't know what to say at that point. And the gravel was kicked by Liam Lawson's car, who went off. So, Lawson goes off, kicks a gravel. It actually, you know, when you hear the entire update that happened. And when you hear of what actually happened. Okay. So, Nico's retirement. And I'm reading out the official message I have on the Audi WhatsApp group. Okay.

[00:31:39] Nico's retirement was caused by gravel. Kicked up by Lawson's car when he went wide. Unfortunately, hitting the fire extinguisher. So, gravel hitting fire extinguisher. And the ERS kill switch. Which then is just supposed to switch the car off in case of emergency. This is the equivalent of a polythene wrapper. Or some sort of sandwich wrapper getting stuck in Fernando Alonso's brake ducts. Back in Bahrain a few years ago.

[00:32:08] So, I didn't know. That's still possible. No, no. No way. Which one's crazier? I can't tell. I think this is definitely crazier. Because when was the last time? We've heard of, you know, drivers. I remember Gasly at some point earlier in the season had a gash from the gravel which was kicked off. And these cockpits are, you know, different size than before. But this, it's been a long time since I've come across something which is crazier than this. Yeah.

[00:32:35] I mean, it's a sad thing I'm going to refer to. But the only thing crazier I can think of is, I mean, Justin Wilson's crash. Where like a nose cone popped off and it bounced on the top of his head. Like, this is random as hell. Unfortunate. But Felipe Massa's gravel crash. But this is just like far better. But still, it's equally weird how crazy things can happen in motorsport. And how it's just a weird sport at times. Yeah. Well, Uttara has something to say before we end. Yes.

[00:33:05] As crazy as things go with Leclerc and Ferrari contract extensions, Uttara says, Fun fact, every time Charles Leclerc extends with Ferrari, he goes winless for a season. My goodness. If Lewis is in that driver's championship battle with Antonelli, are we saying that Leclerc could go winless, Samuel? Is Lewis Hamilton destroying a would-be world champion Charles Leclerc? Well, it's not the first time someone's done so. So don't be surprised. But as is the case for Leclerc? Supermac?

[00:33:35] As a teammate, Samuel. As a teammate. As a teammate. Since 2019, he's been... He's, like I said, Ferrari treats him as though he's a world champion. Okay. But two of Ferrari's most recent wins have come courtesy of Lewis Hamilton, 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix, and 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix, courtesy of Carlos Sainz. So two of Ferrari's most recent wins are not from Charles Leclerc. What a crazy story. And we get to see it develop a couple of weeks later,

[00:34:03] when Formula One returns to the Red Bull ring in Austria. That's going to happen on the 28th of June. So before that, we'll be back on the Inside Line F1 podcast. Of course, we're going to do a preview. Of course, we're going to be talking about a lot more that happens within and around the paddock as well. So stay tuned. But for now, it's time to go off, have a good night's sleep, and just have sweet dreams because Hamilton has won a race again and the world is just a happier place. Catch you guys. Subscribe to the Inside Line F1 podcast on Instagram and on YouTube.

[00:34:33] And we'll catch you in a short bit.