Lewis Hamilton can breathe a sigh of relief after once again he overcame immense pressure from his team mate Nico Rosberg to take his first win in Spain and he takes the championship lead going into Monaco. It is the first time in Hamilton's career that he has one 4 races in a row. In similar situations to the Bahrain GP Nico Rosberg opted to go for the prime hard compound tyre at the first stop whereas Hamilton went for the option medium compound. This left Rosberg with the mediums for the final stint. The two drivers were trading lap times as Rosberg slowly caught Hamilton but in the end he ran out of laps. Hamilton never seemed to be comfortable in the race as there were problems with the front wing and the differential as well as radio miscommunication. Joining the two Mercs on the podium was an overjoyed Daniel Ricciardo who took his first podium in F1. It was a good drive from the Aussie who managed to convert from a three stop strategy to a two stop which allowed him to take a podium opportunity from the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and team mate Sebastian Vettel. It was an excellent drive from the 4 time world champion as he finished 4th after starting 15th. It was a poor show by the Ferrari's after Kimi Raikkonen was lapped and Fernando Alonso was way off the pace. It was a slow burner of a race but late battles took the tension to another level. But it was the world champions who won those battles. It was an impressive drive from Romain Grosjean as he scored Lotus' first points of the year. The same couldn't be said for team mate Pastor Maldonado who once again was involved in a collision with Marcus Ericsson earning the Venezuelan a 5 second stop go penalty. It was a dissapointing day for Force India as they finished 9th and 10th. The Torro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne and Caterham's Kamui Kobayashi retired with an exhaust and brake by wire failure. The McLarens again go home pointless after another torid day of racing. But as we head to Monaco in 2 weeks time Lewis Hamilton will be looking to extend his championship lead on a track where the Hamilton-Rosberg rivalry will be tested to its limit.
1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Nico Rosberg
3. Daniel Ricciardo
4. Sebastian Vettel
5. Valtteri Bottas
6. Fernando Alonso
7. Kimi Raikkonen
8. Romain Grosjean
9. Sergio Perez
10. Nico Hulkenberg
11. Jenson Button
12. Kevin Magnussen
13. Felipe Massa
14. Daniil Kvyat
15. Pastor Maldonado
16. Esterban Gutierrez
17. Adrian Sutil
18. Jules Bianchi
19. Max Chilton
20. Marcus Ericsson
DNF Kamui Kobayashi
DNF Jean-Eric Vergne