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Resurgent Lewis Hamilton fends off Sebastian Vettel to clinch win in Spain

Carrie Dunn

Updated 14/05/2017 at 16:03 GMT

Lewis Hamilton had to fight hard to take the win in Spain from Sebastian Vettel - but he managed it.

Race winner Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP celebrates his win on the podium during the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit de Catalunya on May 14, 2017 in Montmelo, Spain.

Image credit: Getty Images

WHERE THE RACE WAS WON

Sebastian Vettel drove a stormer. With Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen wrecking their races on the first corner, he capitalised on the confusion to get off to a great start, take the lead, and outdrive Lewis Hamilton up until two-thirds of the way through. The Brit wouldn't be shut out, though, and as the front two tore through the pack, he eventually regained his place at the front, clocking his fastest lap time two from the end.
As for the other Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas retired on Lap 38, giving Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull a chance to move up on to the podium.

HAMILTON-WATCH

A poor start from Hamilton, outstripped by a fired-up Vettel. The Brit must have been grateful to his team-mate Bottas, though, who managed to hold the Ferrari up for a bit before letting him pass into the race lead a quarter of the way through. That gave Hamilton time to close the gap - and although he was side-by-side with Vettel after the Lap 38 pit stop under the virtual safety car, the Ferrari slammed the door once again.
But Vettel couldn't last forever - and eventually Hamilton saw his chance and swept majestically past as they both lapped the field.

PIT RADIO EXCHANGE OF THE DAY

"No chance. No chance. Like...a TRAIN." Vettel couldn't hide how impressed he was with Hamilton's overtake on the soft tyres.

MOVE OF THE DAY

Not a move on track, but a move pre-race - a move in which a home favourite was given a touching gift. Yes, before the race, Fernando Alonso was presented with a giant ham. That's one way to show your appreciation for him.
If we're talking about off-track moves, Ferrari were urged to give a lot of freebie merchandise to this weeping child, who was inconsolable after Raikkonen's race ended at the first corner.
And guess what, the power of social media had an effect. Bless.

BEST OVERTAKE

Vettel drove beautifully all afternoon - his pass on Bottas into Turn 1 was exquisite, particularly bearing in mind the drama that corner had caused on Lap 1. If it were football we'd say the Ferrari had sold the Merc a dummy; as it's not we'll just say it was the best overtake of the day.

TACTICAL MASTERSTROKE OF THE DAY

The timing of the pit stops and Hamilton's switch to softs paid off for Mercedes. Brave move by them.

UNSUNG HERO

Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein had an excellent understated day, coming in eighth, albeit marred slightly with a five-second penalty for an error on pit entry.

FACEPALM OF THE DAY

Stoffel Vandoorne is far behind his McLaren team-mate when it comes to qualifying tactics and he's also far behind when it comes to track awareness for the moment. Yes, he's young, but this clip of Felipe Massa, who had the racing line, was not good to see.
Even on a good weekend for McLaren, it still turns out to be a bad one. Vandoorne was beached in the gravel; Massa's Williams is made of tough stuff and he drove on.

STAR-SPOTTING

Frasier popped into the Renault garage. No, really.
There were the usual F1 legends around as well - Mika Hakkinen was raising awareness for a good cause.
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