Lewis Hamilton believes that his victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was unlike any other in his career, with the Ferrari driver delivering a brilliant performance to beat Mercedes\u2019 George Russell.<\/p>\n
After staying under the radar throughout practice, Hamilton<\/a>\u2019s final effort in Qualifying<\/a> was enough to secure P2 on the grid \u2013 missing out on the top spot by just 0.064s to his former team mate.<\/p>\n It looked as though the Scuderia<\/a>\u2019s initial decision to start him on soft tyres while Mercedes<\/a> opted for the medium compound didn\u2019t pay off, as he remained second, but their three-stop strategy played out to perfection thanks to a Virtual Safety Car.<\/p>\n After pitting for a second time, Hamilton took the net race lead as he posted a series of flying laps that cut into Russell<\/a>\u2019s advantage before Fernando Alonso<\/a> pulled onto the grass with an issue, bringing out the VSC and allowing him to box again without losing too much time.<\/p>\n From there, the seven-time World Champion held off the Silver Arrows and built an unassailable lead to claim a spectacular maiden Grand Prix win with Ferrari, marking the culmination of months of work behind the scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst I have to start and say a huge grazie to everyone here, my team here at Ferrari, everyone back at the factory, Fred [Vasseur] for believing in me and bringing me to this team,\u201d Hamilton said after the race. \u201cI started out a dream last year which seemed almost impossible during my time last year, but we never gave up hope and the team just continued to lift me up.<\/p>\n \u201cWe made so many changes and we made so many improvements, and on top of that I\u2019ve got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for. Thank you, thank you to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked where this win ranks among his 106 total victories, he added: \u201cThey\u2019re all special in their own way but this one\u2019s something else.<\/p>\n \u201cI watched Ferrari have all that success when I was younger, watching it on TV, and as I\u2019ve been racing here I\u2019d always watch the screens and wonder what it would be like to win in that car, and it\u2019s come.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone worked so hard for it, everyone truly deserves it, so I am forever grateful to them and this is just the first I hope of many. But great pit stops today, great strategy, the car felt fantastic, and forza Ferrari.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Hamilton\u2019s move to the team was highly-anticipated, it didn\u2019t immediately produce the results he wanted in his first campaign, which saw him finish sixth with an 86-point deficit to team mate Charles Leclerc<\/a>.<\/p>\n