Lewis Hamilton breaks his curse with Ferrari F1: Zarpazo joins Mercedes following Fernando Alonso’s new desertion

The Catalan Grand Prix has always given us a spectacular show, not only for being the home event, but also for being a circuit that combines all the elements that make up present Formula 1. But the truth is that the drivers have always had difficulty with overtaking, although this year 2026 it was expected that it could be different for one reason, because these cars were created to favour the show.

Lewis Hamilton begins closing in on Mercedes F1

The tale for the Spanish did not look good and while Carlos Sainz was going from 16a, soon before starting it was revealed that Fernando Alonso would do it from the pitlane, after altering specific pieces of the power unit. Which was a sensible change given he started from the last place. With this condition, and with the return of George Russell to pole, he started the seventh round of the championship, with the Mercedes F1 as the big favourites.

ASD

Considering that we come from a Monaco Grand Prix where Max Verstappen got stopped at the start, the start will be made without too many mishaps. George Russell was imposing his pace as the laps went by and the only resistance he would have would be the Ferrari F1 of Lewis Hamilton. One of the predictions that was given before starting the race, were the high temperatures and the degradation of the rubbers, something that prompted the pilots halt on lap 13.

Indeed the British driver himself remarked on the radio that he was expecting a three-stop race, something that was slowly tested. Laps were passing and the first to fall was Lance Stroll for a fault in the gearbox, while Fernando Alonso continued the race, yes, from the last place with the hard tyre that sought to lengthen everything possible, despite more than 20 seconds from Sergio Pérez’s Cadillac.

Fernando Alonso with his 4th DNF in 2026

The story above started to get fascinating, with an Andrea Kimi Antonelli who was progressively getting closer to his colleague, even going so far as to make some overtaking attempt, however George Russell finally stopped in pits for the second time to mount the hard rubber. But a little later, taking advantage of the abandonment of Fernando Alonso, who stopped and added his fourth retirement of the season, it was Lewis Hamilton who was leading the session when he exited the boxes.

From that moment, and for the first time since he is in Ferrari, the Briton began to impose his pace, even getting away from the two Mercedes that still had their more and their minus for third position. In fact, the gap was expanding to more than 10 seconds, which would be remembered as the seven-time world champion’s first win with Scuderia.

But before reaching the finish line, history in the championship changed radically, with several overtakes between Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. The Italian ended up leaving the session having had a problem with the power unit, which breaks his streak of five consecutive victories from the Chinese GP to the Monaco GP.

Results of the 2021 F1 Catalan GP race