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Lewis Hamilton secured his 106th career win – and his first for Ferrari – at Sunday’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton now trails championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 41 points, who has retired from the race.
Mercedes’ George Russell was second and McLaren’s Lando Norris third, making it the first all-British podium since the 1968 US Grand Prix.
BBC F1 Correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions after Barcelona.
Does Lewis Hamilton’s return to form mean he is now back in contention for an eighth title? Does this mean Ferrari could soon turn their efforts towards the championship? – Liam
Lewis Hamilton is the first non-Mercedes driver to win a race this year, and is now second in the championship – 41 points behind Kimi Antonelli – after Sunday’s victory in Spain.
But it is too early to make any definitive conclusions about Hamilton as a title contender.
Before his victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, the idea of him or Ferrari becoming title contenders was fanciful given the way Mercedes had dominated the season.
A significant aerodynamic upgrade on the Ferrari was enough, however – in combination with other factors at play – to make Hamilton and Ferrari the fastest driver and car on Sunday’s track.
But the situation is much aligned. For one, Mercedes compromised their strategy by covering Hamilton’s early first stop.
They decided to deviate from their best stop times for a two-stop race to lock in track position. Arguably, from that moment on, Hamilton’s three-stop was the faster strategy.
Then, the Virtual Safety Car gifted Hamilton a cheap stop that allowed him to pit and retain the lead.
Without it, he would still have been the fastest car on the track, but to win he would have had to overtake both Lando Norris’ McLaren and Mercedes – or perhaps just one, as Antonelli retired late.
On top of that, Ferrari, for now, lacks power compared to Mercedes. Barcelona is not a particularly power-sensitive track. And the Ferrari is the fastest car in corners, especially the Barcelona type of corner.
But the next three races – Austria, Britain and Belgium – are all on power-sensitive tracks. As things stand, there is little chance that Ferrari can beat Mercedes.
Having said that, word on the street is that a Ferrari engine upgrade is coming soon, now that they’ve been officially given the go-ahead for both this season and next. How much difference would it make?
In short, Hamilton’s win in Spain was enough to make the idea a reasonably logical conversation piece, but it will take more evidence from more races to say for sure that he is a title contender.
Is Charles Leclerc’s current struggles in qualifying due to pressure from Lewis Hamilton’s revival in form? Or is he really struggling with braking problems? – Rob
To address this question, it is important to distinguish Spain from its two predecessor nations.
It was certainly the case that Charles Leclerc was struggling with the braking characteristics of the Ferrari in Canada and Monaco in particular.
He was using different brake discs from Hamilton and they weren’t working as well as he wanted.
As for the Spaniard, it is believed he switched to Hamilton’s brake set-up and was much happier.
He was faster than Hamilton in practice, impressed Mercedes during his race simulation on Friday afternoon and was faster than Hamilton in the second qualifying session.
Leclerc then crashed on his first lap in Q3.
He described turn four as his “weak spot” all weekend – when compared to Hamilton. And it looks like he tried to brake as late as Hamilton there. It worked on the entry, but it took him wide through the corner, he went off the line on the exit, the car skidded and he crashed into the wall.
As Hamilton put it: “I was braking too late in turn four, which was visible, and I think Charles probably tried to carry a lot of speed into that corner and unfortunately it didn’t work out for him.”
In the race, Leclerc had to work his way up from 10th on the grid, and he did so impressively on the opening lap. Then, according to team boss Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari changed Leclerc’s strategy mid-race, suggesting he began aiming for three-stops and converted to two.
Whether this was an explanation for his lack of speed compared to Hamilton, which other teams noticed, is not entirely clear.
Vasseur said after the race: “He had a good feeling with the car, he was confident, he was able to fight for pole position yesterday.
“Then we changed tactics in the middle of the race, it was difficult for him. He pitted again on one lap before the safety car. But I think the approach and feeling is much better for Charles today than three weeks ago.”
Over the course of the season, while Hamilton leads them 6-4 in qualifying, Leclerc is actually a little over 0.025 seconds faster on average.
