F1 update – Barcelona-Catalunya GP

Round 7 of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship was held at the Circuit De Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Mercedes winning start to the season came to end after Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton claimed his one-hundreth and sixth victory of his career by winning the Grand Prix finishing Mercedes driver George Russell who finished second with McLaren’s Lando Norris finishing third which meant for the first time since the 1968 United States Grand Prix that the podium was filled by British drivers.

Barcelona-Catalunya GP – top 5:

• 1st: Sir Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari
• 2nd: George Russell – Mercedes
• 3rd: Lando Norris – McLaren
• 4th: Max Verstappen – Red Bull
• 5th: Oscar Piastri – McLaren

Other highlights:

• Mercedes driver Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antonelli would retire on lap 62 with an engine failure, however as he completed 90% of the race distance he would be classified in sixteenth.
• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc would retire on lap 63 with power steering failure, however as he completed 90% of the race distance he would be classified in fifteenth.
• Haas’s Oliver Bearman would retire on lap 61 with a technical issue, however as he completed 90% of the race distance he would be classified in seventeenth.
• Williams’s Alexander Albon finished the race despite staying in the pits for quite some time with a loose camera on his car, however as he failed to complete 90% of the race distance he was not classified in the final results.
• Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg would retire on lap 30 with a technical issue.
• Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas would retire on lap 16 with a technical issue.
• It was a bad day for Aston Martin as both their drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso would retire from the race. Stroll would retire on lap 6 with gearbox failure, whilst Alonso would retire on lap 40 (his thirty-eighth lap) with a battery issue, Alonso’s retirement would deploy a virtual safety car.
• Alpine’s Franco Colapinto finished the race eighth on the road, however he was given a 10 second time penalty for a yellow flag infringment which dropped him to tenth in the final race results.

News:

• Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was reinstated into third place at the Monaco Grand Prix after Alpine won their right to review case over the penalties given to him during the race. Although McLaren and Red Bull have lodged an appeal over this.
• Bosses of Formula 1 have announced that they are on track reach their net zero target by 2030.
• Formula 1 bosses have also agreed to new engine rule changes for 2027 and 2028 seasons, this will see a internal combustion output split in regards to the engine side set at 58-42 in 2027 and then increase in 2028 to 60-40.
• Former Formula 1 drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck De Vries took victory at the prestigous Le Mans 24 Hour race which is the jewel in the crown race for the endurance category of motor racing in a Toyota Hypercar, their team mate was former Indycar driver Mike Conway.

The next round of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship will be held at the Red Bull Ring in Speilberg, Austria for the Austrian Grand Prix on 26th to 28th June.

Here’s Aston and regular contributor Cameron Perkins with the latest from the world of Formula 1.