Not only was it an impressive win for Lewis Hamilton, but there is also a lot of significance to go with it.
The Michael Schumacher connection
Much like Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher is one of the Formula One greats, especially in conjunction with Ferrari. Schumacher won five of his seven World Championships with the team in red from 2000 to 2004, but this success had to start somewhere.
In 1996, Michael Schumacher won his first race with Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix, which was held at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Now, exactly 30 years later, Lewis Hamilton wins his race with Ferrari at the very same track.
Many think or hope that this is a positive sign for Hamilton possibly winning his eighth World Championship with Ferrari. History likes to repeat itself, so hopefully this is one of those cases.
The Nico Rosberg connection
To further the idea that this is a sign for Hamilton is the connection between him, Barcelona, and his old teammate, Nico Rosberg. 2016 was another significant year at the Barcelona Grand Prix. It was the era of the “Silver Wars” where Mercedes teammates, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, were in the midst of another championship battle, but Barcelona was where their conflict really came to the forefront.
Hamilton started the race on pole, with Rosberg right behind him starting in second. As the lights went out, the two Mercedes were immediately battling for position. Rosberg overtook Hamilton into Turn 1, and on the exit of Turn 3, Hamilton attempted to retake the position on the inside but was pushed onto the grass, where he spun out. In that spin, he also took out Rosberg, resulting in a double retirement for Mercedes.
As a result of both the Mercedes being out of the race, Max Verstappen took the lead of the race and managed to hold off Kimi Raikkonen for the duration of it to take his first win in Formula One, just one week after being promoted to Red Bull from Toro Rosso. Verstappen became the youngest race winner in F1 history, a title he still holds today.
The childhood friends turned teammates hit their breaking point after this collision. Tensions got so high that Rosberg retired from the sport after winning the championship in 2016. After the retirement Hamilton rarely mentioned or spoke to Rosberg for a decent amount of time, but the pair seem more civil today.
This incident was brought up all weekend long, as it was the tenth anniversary of the event. Still, fans brought it up even more when it was revealed that Nico Rosberg would be hosting the post-race interview for the podium sitters. While only time will tell, fans are taking this weekend as a huge sign for Hamilton’s continued success with Ferrari.
