Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Lewis Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix for Ferrari at Barcelona on Sunday and, at 41 years, 5 months and 7 days, became Formula 1’s oldest race winner since Jack Brabham in 1970 and the first driver over 40 to win a grand prix since Nigel Mansell in 1994.
The victory was the 106th of Hamilton’s F1 career and his first since turning 40. It also carried extra weight because it was his first win for Ferrari after joining the team for the 2026 season, and it arrived just seven rounds into the campaign at a moment that could matter in the title fight.
Ferrari built the result through an aggressive three-stop strategy that gave Hamilton a chance to attack the race rather than manage it. The team then gained another opening in the closing phase when Fernando Alonso triggered a Virtual Safety Car, a late twist that helped shape the final run to the flag.
That made the win more than a statistical landmark. Hamilton’s success came against the backdrop of Kimi Antonelli’s recent control of the season, with the Mercedes driver arriving on a run of five consecutive victories. Antonelli had been running second before retiring in the closing laps, turning what had looked like another strong points day into a major swing.
Antonelli’s retirement promoted George Russell to second and Lando Norris to third, but the bigger impact was on the narrative at the front of the championship. Instead of Antonelli extending his sequence again, Hamilton and Ferrari broke through with a result that immediately changes the feel of the season.
The historical significance of the win was clear even without looking far back. The last driver older than Hamilton to win a world championship round was Brabham, who took victory for his own team in the 1970 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami at 43 years and 339 days. Before Hamilton, the most recent over-40 winner had been Mansell for Williams in the 1994 Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton is now the seventh-oldest winner of a world championship round, a measure of just how rarely Formula 1 sees a driver in his fifth decade reach the top step. In modern F1, where teams build around youth and long-term development, that alone would have made Barcelona notable.
Doing it in Ferrari red gave the result even more force. Hamilton did not just add another number to his record with win No. 106. He ended a 32-year wait for an over-40 grand prix winner, stopped the momentum of the season’s hottest streak, and handed Ferrari a victory with both symbolic and sporting significance as the championship battle develops.