Lewis Hamilton has won a fascinating Spanish Grand Prix after passing Sebastian Vettel on-track, who led for the first 43 laps of the race. Mercedes' strategy to pit under a virtual safety car paid off and allowed the Brit to take his 55th career win.

Vettel was able to pass the Mercedes at turn one after both cars sprung off the line evenly enough. Behind them, however, there was carnage as Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen all came together, resulting in the immediate retirements of the Ferrari and Red Bull.

Vettel had to settle for second place but keeps his place on top of the driver standings, the gap between himself and Hamilton coming down to just six points. Daniel Ricciardo took his first podium of the year by finishing third, however, will be disappointed to not have been able to mix it up with Hamilton and Vettel, suggesting the new upgrades haven't worked as effectively as they hoped. 

The start of the race saw Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen engaged in a tight battle with the Dane driver attempting to hold off the local favourite. On lap 12 of the race, Hamilton was asked to push up to Vettel as the gap was being maintained at two and a half seconds.

Fernando Alonso meanwhile pitted on the next lap and was not where he wanted to be after losing multiple positions on lap one due to a trip across the gravel. Sainz and Magnussen continued their aforementioned battle into the pits with Sainz took to the grass on the exit, causing him to erupt in distress.

Vettel was the first of the leaders to pit and came in for a set of soft tyres on lap 15. However, it was not the most perfectly executed plan as the German rejoined the track behind his former teammate Daniel Ricciardo and took a couple of laps to get by. Hamilton pitted seven laps later for the medium compound.

BREAKING: @LewisHamilton WINS the ___Escaped_link_673fc31456c04___ ahead of Sebastian Vettel (P2) and Daniel Ricciardo (P3) ???? pic.twitter.com/AJyjOtsCHr

— Formula 1 (@F1) ___Escaped_link_673fc31456c06___

It was then advantage Hamilton as his rival Vettel caught up to the back of Bottas who was going significantly slower. This allowed the #44 Mercedes to close in and by the time Bottas pitted, the gap was closed. However, Vettel on the soft tyres was able to build that back up before Vandoorne turned into Massa at turn 1, putting himself out of the race.

The virtual safety car was deployed and gave the teams' strategists something to think about. As the VSC came to an end, Hamilton peeled into his pit box and fitted the soft compound for his final stint. Mercedes were asking Hamilton to do almost 30 laps on the tyre, which meant he could be vulnerable at the end of the race.

Ferrari responded to the call straight away and brought Vettel in on the very next lap. It was going to be tight at the first corner and so it was, as the two came together, banging wheels. Vettel maintained the lead but Hamilton was in the hunt on fresher, softer tyres.

Bottas was then seen parked trackside with smoke pouring from the rear of his Silver Arrow. On lap 44, Hamilton made the move on his title rival, thundering past him on the start-finish straight. Vettel was prepared to mount a challenge at the end of the race but, like in Sochi, was held up once again by Felipe Massa which took away any chance Ferrari potentially had to win the race. 

Force India had another stellar weekend as the two pink cars crossed the line in fourth and fifth, with Sergio Perez ahead of Esteban Ocon. Force India come away solidifying their fourth place in the championship with 53 points.

Sauber took their first points of the season after a sensational drive from Pascal Wehrlein who ended his day in eighth. The German crossed the line in seventh but received a 5 second time penalty for entering the pitlane around the cone in place.

Toro Rosso will be satisfied with their double points haul as Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat finished in seventh and ninth respectively. It was another handful of points for Renault at the courtesy of Nico Hulkenberg who was sixth. Romain Grosjean took the final point for himself and Haas. 

After an intense race... handshakes ? #SpanishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/LFvjL48NyA

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 14, 2017

Photos Spain 2017

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