From the day he shocked the Formula 1 world, and announced his stunning move from Mercedes to Ferrari, this was the moment the Tifosi were waiting for.

Lewis Hamilton’s first Grand Prix victory in red.

Hamilton and Ferrari secured that win in Sunday’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, injecting the seven-time champion fully into the Drivers’ Championship fight, and giving Ferrari fans the world over the moment they were waiting for.

At the outset, it looked like it was going to be his former Mercedes teammates’ day. George Russell started on pole position, one spot ahead of Hamilton, but did what he needed to do at the start. Ferrari looked to have the advantage on paper before the race, with Mercedes opting for a set of C3 medium tires, and Ferrari bolting a set of C4 soft tires onto Hamilton’s challenger. With Hamilton on softer rubber, and with the fact that under the new regulations this year, Ferrari was stronger off the line than Mercedes, you had a potential problem for Russell right when the lights went out.

Both drivers got a good launch off the line, but Russell held the position through the opening lap:

Then the Mercedes driver put the more robust rubber to use, pulling away from Hamilton over the opening stint of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

But from there, the moments slowly began breaking in Hamilton’s favor.

The next challenge for Russell and Mercedes? Navigating the opening set of pit stops. Between the heat in Barcelona, and the decision by Pirelli to opt for a softer set of tires this year, tire degradation was more of an issue on Sunday. And with Hamilton starting on a set of C4 soft tires, Ferrari called him in for his first pit stop on Lap 12, bolting on a set of C2 hard tires.

How would Mercedes respond? Would they leave Russell out, or call him in to cover off Hamilton, given the power of the undercut strategy?

Mercedes called Russell in, and covered off Hamilton to perfection.

Hamilton came in on Lap 27, for a second stop to take a set of medium tires and lock the Ferrari driver into a three-stop strategy. That put the question to Mercedes again: Bring Russell in to cover off the stop? The fact that Hamilton was laying down a tremendous out lap seemed to force the issue.

But Mercedes left Russell out to start a new lap, and Hamilton continued around the circuit, lighting up the timing sheet on a tremendous first lap on the fresh set of medium tires.

Russell was told to stay out, with the team deciding to stick to their two-stop strategy. Would it work?

Complicating matters even further was Lando Norris. After Hamilton’s second stop, Norris was running in third behind Russell and Antonelli. The risk Mercedes had to balance was the fact that pitting to cover off Hamilton would open the door for the McLaren driver to perhaps steal track position, and maybe even a win.

If that was not enough, by Lap 31 Antonelli had caught the rear wing of Russell’s W17. The young Italian driver was less than a second behind Russell, and closing fast.

At the start of Lap 33 Russell had to go defensive, to keep his teammate behind him. But the battle between the pair was music to Hamilton’s ears, as it gave him even more of an opportunity to close the gap to the two Mercedes drivers. After his pit stop the gap to the leader was 22 seconds, but by Lap 33 Hamilton had cut that gap in half.

Then on Lap 35 McLaren called Norris in, and that gave Hamilton some clean air to push even more around the track. Would Mercedes call Russell in to cover off Norris?

They did, calling Russell in on the following lap. That released Antonelli into the lead on the track, and Mercedes needed a quality stop in the pits.

They got that, getting Russell serviced in just 2.8 seconds. Russell covered off Norris, rejoining the fight in P4 ahead of Norris in P5. Antonelli was then told by his engineer Peter Bonnington that “it won’t be long,” as they too needed to cover off Norris.

Mercedes called him in on the following lap, and Hamilton inherited the lead for the moment.

Antonelli came out just in front of Norris, Mercedes having covered off the defending Drivers’ Champion.

Hamilton was instructed that he had seven laps to extract the most he could out of those medium tires, as he would have to come in for one more stop. The C3 medium tires would not get him to the checkered flag. With a pit stop taking about 20 seconds to complete, from pit entry to pit exit, he needed to increase the lead over Russell in second as much as he could.

On Lap 40, the gap from Hamilton in P1 to Russell in P2 was 16 seconds.

But that is when the intervention Hamilton needed arrived, and the door for his first Ferrari Grand Prix win swung open. Fernando Alonso came to a stop just off the track, his Aston Martin suffering a failure, and the race officials called for a Virtual Safety Car.

A stop under a Virtual Safety Car averages around 12 seconds in Barcelona, and with Hamilton having more than a 15-second lead over Russell, this was his chance to make that third pit stop.

Max Verstappen stopped under the VSC, and then it was the moment for Ferrari. Would they pull him in, hoping the VSC would continue?

Ferrari called him in, and the seven time World Champion roared down pit lane. Ferrari got him in and out with a 2.8-second stop, and Hamilton got him back onto the track in P1 just ahead of Russell, on fresh tires, and just as the VSC ended:

“Great job guys,” exclaimed Hamilton from the cockpit. He had the race lead by more than two seconds over his former teammate, with 24 laps to go, on fresher tires and in a very fast challenger.

Race officials then noted Hamilton for a yellow flag infringement, and that led to some nervy times at Ferrari. Would he be hit with a penalty, potentially spoiling what had been a perfect afternoon for him?

As Ferrari waited, Hamilton pumped in the fastest lap of the race to that point on Lap 45, building his gap over Russell to 3.7 seconds.

By Lap 48, that gap was up to 6.5 seconds, potentially giving Hamilton a five-second buffer if he needed it.

But he did not, as race officials announced on that lap that the potential yellow flag infringement would need no further investigation.

Hamilton was closing in on his first win in red.

By Lap 51, that gap was up to 8.6 seconds from Hamilton to Russell. He was making the most of the fresher tires on his challenger,

“15 laps, and you are doing a good job. So you can go on,” was the instruction to Hamilton from his engineer.

By Lap 55, Hamilton had the gap up to 11 seconds over Russell, and he was closing in on that first Grand Prix win with Ferrari.

With ten laps to go, Hamilton’s lead was more than 12 seconds. That win was within his grasp.

Hamilton’s last Grand Prix win came at the Belgian Grand Prix in 2024, but that was a promotion after Russell was disqualified following the race when his car did not meet the minimum weight. His last chance to celebrate a Grand Prix victory came at the British Grand Prix that year, an emotional afternoon as it was his final race at Silverstone with Mercedes.

But this was different. A victory that almost felt like it would never come during his tough opening season with Ferrari. Yet this year, the Hamilton we have seen for so many years was back, confident to fight at the front. And on this afternoon, Ferrari got the strategy exactly right, giving Hamilton and the Tifosi a chance to celebrate together unlike they had before.

“I’m happy where I am, leave me to it,” was the message from Hamilton in the closing laps. He had a gap of almost 14 seconds over Russell, and the afternoon was almost his.

With five laps to go, the Mercedes duo was battling behind Hamilton, as Antonelli fought his way by Russell to take P2. That brief battle allowed Hamilton to increase his lead, now over Antonelli, to more than 17 seconds. But Antonelli was dealing with some front-wing damage, and had already been shown the black-and-white flag for exceeding track limits. A penalty was possibly in his future.

But the penalty would not arrive; instead, his challenger came to a halt on Lap 62, ending his afternoon. That brought out the yellow flag, and then race officials called for a Virtual Safety Car. He was not the only driver dealing with an issue, as Charles Leclerc lost the steering at Turn 2, sliding into the gravel. Leclerc came down pit lane to have his challenger serviced.

Hamilton was able to take the checkered flag under green flag conditions, for his 106th Grand Prix win.

“Lewis Hamilton is back,” declared Jolyon Palmer in the F1TV commentary box.

“In this moment, he has been brilliant,” added David Coulthard.

As an emotional Hamilton crossed the finish line, Alex Jacques, always one with words, summed it up this way: “A legend forged in silver, resumes in red.”

“Thank you so much, you’ve helped me achieve this dream,” said Hamilton from the cockpit. “And to the fans, thank you for getting you to remind me who I am. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

And with Russell taking second and Norris third, it was an all-British podium for the first time since 1968.

As things stand now in the Drivers’ Championship standings, Antonelli remains in the lead with 156 points, but with his failure in the closing stages, and Hamilton’s victory, the gap from P1 to P2 is now down to just 41 points. Hamilton now has 115 points on the season.

Russell remains in third with 106 points.

But this was Hamlton’s day.

“I’m forever grateful [to Ferrari],” said Hamilton to Nico Rosberg trackside after the race. “Forza Ferrari.”