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Lewis Hamilton is a race-winner for Ferrari.
Those are words that nobody would have expected to read before he joined the Italian team, with a move to the Scuderia feeling far-fetched, to put it mildly. And they're also words that many doubted they'd read after he put on the red overalls.
After his triumph in Spain, even Hamilton himself had said winning a Grand Prix for Ferrari had felt like an "impossible dream" to him, and it's easy to see why.
He'd never looked the same in his last few years at Mercedes after being denied a record-breaking eighth world championship in the cruellest fashion imaginable in 2021. As he was being soundly beaten by teammate George Russell in his final season there, it seemed as if the fire within had died out.
If achieving his childhood dream of driving for Ferrari couldn't reignite that fire, nothing could, and it looked like it couldn't in his first season there. He was nowhere near Charles Leclerc for most of the campaign and had lost all belief in his abilities, even telling the press he was useless and that Ferrari would be best off replacing him at one point.
It was a sad sight, Formula 1's most successful driver of all time seemingly accepting that his time at the top was over, that he just didn't have what it took anymore.
And then he remembered who he is.
It was clear from the start of this season that the Lewis Hamilton of old was returning.
When speaking to the press, he immediately seemed happier with the new generation of cars than he was with those of the post-2021 ground effect era, and it showed on track, with the 41-year-old finishing just a second behind Leclerc in the season opener.
He's only gotten better since then, becoming faster and more consistent than the other Ferrari, and that progress culminated in what will go down in history as one of his most famous wins.
At face value, it may look like it was luck more than anything that returned him to the top step of the podium in Barcelona, with him only staying in the lead after his final pit-stop due to an ideally-timed Virtual Safety Car, but that wasn't the case.
The rate at which he pulled away from George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in the closing stages of the race leaves little doubt that he would have caught and passed the Mercedes duo even without the VSC, and even factoring in the time it most likely would have taken him to pull off overtakes.
It's especially exciting that it wasn't tyre management or wheel-to-wheel racing that got him this win, but pure pace.
While it was already clear that he was as good a racer as he used to be, whether he was as fast as he used to be remained a question mark, but that's no longer the case. Due to the decision that he and Ferrari made to pit one more time than his rivals, he didn't have to look after his tyres or defend track position, but instead just had to clock as many fast laps as possible, and he delivered.
Adding him to the select list of drivers who have won a race for F1's greatest team, and making him the oldest Grand Prix winner in over half a decade, the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix was undoubtedly up there with the best of Hamilton's 106 victories. But more importantly, he ignited a pursuit of what would be his greatest triumph.
He's now nine points clear of Russell in the championship and just 41 behind Antonelli. The dream of a record-breaking eighth title is very much alive.
Admittedly, the Mercedes duo are both more likely 2026 world champions thanks to having a faster car at their disposal, but as Antonelli's late retirement in Spain showed, the Silver Arrows are far from bulletproof. That was the second time in two races that a Mercedes has been taken out of the race by a mechanical issue; Hamilton has yet to have such trouble.
Antonelli and Russell are both vulnerable as drivers, too. The latter has already wilted under the pressure of being a championship favourite for the first time in his career this season, and that pressure will surely get to 19-year-old Antonelli too as the year goes on.
Hamilton will still need stronger machinery if he really wants to challenge the Italian, but Ferrari closing the gap to Mercedes with upgrades is very much a possibility.
If they were to do so and their man was to prevail, it would surpass everything that has come before as the best achievement of his career.
He'd be the man who finally ended Ferrari's excruciating 19-year wait for another Drivers' Championship. He'd be just the third man to win a title in his 40s. And he'd be the first driver ever to win eight world championships.
Can he do it? Yes, he can. And don't just take my word for it.
"I'd rather not fight with him for a title because I know what he's capable of," said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, Hamilton's former boss.
"If he smells blood, he goes. I've seen it many years where suddenly the Lewis Hamilton train started to go, and then it's very difficult to stop it."
