Who were the winners and losers of the Spanish Grand Prix?

It was a battle of strategy rather pure speed and overtaking, and for a Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, it was fairly entertaining. Max Verstappen launched off the line like a rocket and beat Lewis Hamilton into turn one, but after putting it on pole for the 100th time in qualifying, Hamilton took his 98th career F1 win and his fifth in a row at Barcelona.

You can read our race report here, but which drivers shone, and who cracked under pressure?

Winner - Lewis Hamilton

Who else? The man with the most victories in F1 history added yet another to that immense catalogue in Spain, and takes his tally to three this season, in comparison to Verstappen's one. It's his first inclusion as a winner in our series, but that's frankly because of the ridiculous standards he has set over the past 15 years in the sport.

It wasn't easy by all means to take home yet another P1 trophy, with the Red Bull of Verstappen putting up a valiant fight. 

As mentioned earlier, Hamilton lost first place in the race in the very first corner, and with Verstappen opening up a gap, it seemed as though he'd thrown away victory; even a safety car couldn't help him regain that place.

However, his Mercedes simply had better race pace than Verstappen's RB16B and a pass soon looked inevitable. In fact, he was within DRS before he and his team made the race-changing decision to pit for a second time onto the medium tyres on lap 42. He was already on fresher tyres than Verstappen, and the pit stop saw him lose track position and drop to over 22 seconds behind his title rival.

But, lap after lap, Hamilton dented a second, sometimes closer to two, into Verstappen's lead, until with six laps remaining, he breezed past at turn one to take the lead.

It was a combination strategy and speed that won Hamilton the race, but it was a mighty recovery drive to consistently claw back the advantage that Verstappen held over him.

It's now 3-1 in Hamilton's favour, and he leads the Drivers' Championship by 14 points. It's the Brit's to lose.

Winner - Daniel Ricciardo

For the second week running, Daniel Ricciardo features in our winners section, just as his teammate Lando Norris did earlier this year.

A P16 start last week saw a recovery drive to P10 rewarded with a place in this section, but this week, it was far more smooth-sailing for the Aussie. 

After a decent qualifying session on Saturday, he started in P7, but managed to leapfrog both Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz in the opening stages of the race to move up to fifth, where he ran for much of the proceedings.

It was arguably his most impressive performance in a McLaren car, and it seems as though he's finally adapted to his MCL35M. He managed to stay out of drama, and the fact it was a fairly uneventful race for him will have been exactly as he'd have hoped.

He lost P5 to Sergio Perez, with the Mexican in the faster machinery, in the closing stages of the 66-lap race, but to take home eight points, his joint most from a single race this season, is an extremely positive sign.

Next up is Monaco, a track he is notoriously quick at, and the one in which he scored his most recent F1 race win, back in 2018. Things are starting to come together for the Honey Badger.

A quick shoutout to Charles Leclerc though, who only narrowly missed out on featuring after finishing fourth.

Constructor Winner - Mercedes

Other than the German outfit, no team on the grid had a particularly great race. Ferrari are the only ones who ran them close with their P4 and P7 finishes, to take home 18 points, and whilst Red Bull scored 29, Mercedes bagged 40 points, and extended their lead in the Constructors' Championship to 29 points.

It was yet another Hamilton, Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas podium, the most common in F1 history, and whilst the Finnish driver was unable to oust Verstappen for P2 or the fastest lap of the race, it was an excellent day at the office for Toto Wolff's team.

Their strategists played things to perfection for Hamilton, and whilst many would've kept him out to overtake Verstappen on track, their decision to pit for a fresh set of medium tyres was a masterstroke and Hamilton ended the race over 15 seconds ahead of Verstappen; well played Mercedes. Just as is Bahrain, their strategy was superior to Red Bull's and they've proven that not only can they develop a title winning car, but they also have the best judgement in terms of race strategy on the grid.

Heading into Monaco, it's advantage Mercedes, can they extend their lead further next time out? Find out on May 23.

Loser - Fernando Alonso

From a winner last week, to a loser this, it was not a pleasant afternoon drive for the two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. After reaching Q3, Alonso started P10, five places behind his teammate Esteban Ocon, and although he ran in the points for much of the race, it all came crashing down towards the end.

After pitting early for a set of mediums, lap 21, Alonso tried to hold out for a one stop strategy, but that gamble simply didn't pay off. Running in the final points position, he gradually lost touch with Lando Norris, who was in P9 at the time, and his lack of speed brought several others into play for that single world championship point.

His tyres were clearly degrading at a fast rate of knots, just as Carlos Sainz's did last week, and just like his fellow Spaniard did in Portimao, his strategy cost him a points finish.

His pace caused a DRS train of six cars to build up, and after being passed by the likes of Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly, he pitted for a set of new tyres on lap 61. That late pit stop meant he dropped down to P17, and of the 19 cars to end the race, he finished above only the two Haas drivers. It was not a happy afternoon behind the wheel for Alonso.

He lost further ground to Ocon in their teammate battle, now trailing 10-5 in that regard. He'll need to put it right in Monaco.

Loser - Yuki Tsunoda

As mentioned earlier, 19 drivers finished the race. The only one who didn't? AlphaTauri's Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda.

After a worldie debut in Bahrain, Tsunoda has failed to score a point since, and has been eliminated in Q1 on two occasions; he has failed to kick on.

Now, it's his first season of F1 so that's by no means a criticism of him, and his selection as a loser was certainly through no fault of his own.

He suffered an engine failure on lap eight and had to pull over and exit his AT02 before his race had really even begun.

As the only retiree, it could be said it was simply misfortune that caused Tsunoda to drop into this category, but his performance on Saturday was also subpar. His Q1 time was over three tenths slower than his teammate Gasly's effort and with the Frenchman scoring his eighth point of the season in Spain, Tsunoda will be left wondering what could've been.

Constructor Loser - Alpine

Alonso's faults have been discussed earlier, but after a P5 qualifying performance for Ocon, I didn't expect to be putting Alpine in the loser category. However, despite both cars reaching Q3, it's clear that the race pace just simply isn't there.

Ocon qualified so strongly, but quickly dropped down the order, and a late overtake by Norris ensured that the Frenchman finished the race in ninth. Whilst he took home two points, it could've been so much more and they lost further ground to McLaren and Ferrari who now look uncatchable.

With Alonso in P17 and Ocon in P9 despite both qualifying in the top 10, it was a disappointing day for Alpine; that Renault engine may need improving if they want to kick on.