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Barcelona (AP) - Max Verstappen radioed the bitter conclusion in the fight against the overpowering Lewis Hamilton from his racing car.

"It is like it is, it was impossible to keep him behind us," said the Dutchman, while Hamilton enjoyed the congratulations of his overjoyed Mercedes crew after a loving stroke for his black Silver Arrow.

"You always impress me," said the seven-time Formula 1 world champion in Barcelona: "What a day."

Team boss Toto Wolff summed up the tactical masterpiece of the world champion racing team paired with a splendid performance of their superstar in two words: "Perfect combination!"

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Hamilton was not impressed by a successful attack by the Dutchman right in the first corner and countered with a terrific race to catch up after a second pit stop at the Spanish Grand Prix.

After his 100th pole, he drove his 98th Grand Prix victory and the fifth success in a row on the difficult to overtake course on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas was third.

Verstappen was only second in the tire game, with six laps to go, Hamilton overtook the 23-year-old in his 100th race for Red Bull.

The triumph at the site of his first Formula 1 victory five years ago as the youngest driver in the motorsport premier class came to nothing.

In the classification, Hamilton's lead over the classic grew to 14 points in two weeks in Monaco.

In the slipstream of the world championship fight, Sebastian Vettel experienced another race under the claims of a four-time world champion - or in short: To forget.

13th place and thus again not in the points.

On the other hand, Mick Schumacher fought mindfully in only his fourth race.

More than 18th place in the lame Haas was not possible for the 22-year-old Formula 2 champion after he had been lapped after a little more than halfway.

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Because the two World Cup opponents up front put a lot of pressure on right from the start.

Verstappen knew like Hamilton: A preliminary decision could be made at the start.

Verstappen was second on the grid on the dirtier inside, but got away well, slid just behind Hamilton, swerved and attacked the Spain winner of the past four years in the first corner.

And it got close.

Verstappen risked contact, and Hamilton backed away.

The challenger was now leading the field.

The two Germans came further back.

Vettel had not made it past 13th place in the qualification.

Hesse, who was now in a crisis at Aston Martin, could not make up ground at first.

In contrast to Schumacher, who first improved by two ranks and moved up to 16th place in the meantime.

Verstappen could not pull away, any lead would have been gone when the Alpha Tauri of the Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda stopped and the safety car had to be taken out.

Verstappen also mastered the always tricky moment when the drivers were allowed to accelerate again with ease.

Hamilton couldn't answer.

What to do now

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The course at the gates of Barcelona has had the reputation of a processional route for a long time.

Overtaking is hardly possible even with the aids of the current racing cars.

The fact that the winner started from the front row 27 times out of 30 races strengthens the reputation of the track.

So it would probably just be about strategy.

The softest tire compound deteriorated, Hamilton now put Verstappen under pressure, reduced the gap to less than a second when Verstappen drove in to change tires.

And then that: 4.2 seconds. It is not uncommon for the Red Bull crew to change four wheels in less than two seconds. The Mercedes command post and Hamilton knew that this could be the decisive phase of the race. Even a 2.7-second tire change did not have the desired effect from Mercedes' point of view. Hamilton stayed behind Verstappen, but shortened the gap. A mistake by Verstappen and the Briton would be back in front. The Red Bull hopefuls made no mistake, but complained about the tires. When Hamilton was almost there, he turned towards the pits. Back on the track, he called up top times in his company car like a robot.

Red Bull dared and left Verstappen outside: one-stop strategy.

Around 21 seconds ahead with a good 20 laps.

The Hamilton hunt was on.

Once again, the record pilot in the premier class drove in a league of its own.

Sometimes he made up two seconds in a lap.

"At the end of the race I will run out of tires," he radioed in view of the aggressive strategy.

It would be even less at Verstappen, came the reply from the command post.

In the 60th lap the Dutchman had to let Hamilton go by, the decision had been made, in order to get at least one additional point, he had the soft tires put on again.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210509-99-530311 / 5

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