How Lewis Hamilton’s F1 nemesis handed him race win

Lewis Hamilton

How Lewis Hamilton’s F1 nemesis handed him race win

Hamilton benefitted from a retirement in Barcelona

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 15 June 2026 12:55

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Lewis Hamilton has a former F1 rival to thank for his race victory at the Barcelona Grand Prix this weekend.

After a 686-day wait, Hamilton finally returned to the top step of the podium last weekend and claimed his 106th race victory at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The win also put him 41 points behind Kimi Antonelli in the drivers' standings, closing the gap thanks to a retirement from the Mercedes star.

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But Antonelli's wasn't the only retirement that benefited Hamilton, with the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso also coming to the seven-time champion's aid on lap 40.

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How Alonso helped Hamilton win in Barcelona

Back in 2007, Hamilton jumped into the McLaren as a rookie alongside Alonso with their rivalry eventually resulting in the Spaniard leaving the team at the end of the season.

Since then, there has been little move of repairing the relationship between the two giants of Formula 1, but Alonso's DNF did help on Hamilton's road to victory in Barcelona.

Alonso was forced to start from the pitlane after the Aston Martin team changed his energy store and MGU-K, yet could only complete 40 laps before his car came to a halt on the side of the track at Turn 9.

Alonso later confirmed it was a battery failure that caused his DNF, but before then, the incident triggered a virtual safety car to recover the Aston Martin car.

The VSC period allowed Hamilton to make a cheap pit stop, saving 10 seconds of race time and retained track position in the lead ahead of both Mercedes cars.

Without the VSC caused by Alonso, Hamilton - who was on a three-stop strategy - would have likely come out behind both Mercedes and would have needed to pass them both to secure the win.