BARCELONA — As Lewis Hamilton basked in the sun on the top step on the podium at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, drinking in the adulation of the Ferrari mechanics standing below as they throatily sung every word of “Il Canto degli Italiani,” the Italian national anthem, a little out of sync with the music, the depths of last season seemed a distant bad memory.There was a point last year when, in his words, this moment seemed “almost impossible.”The unification of the most successful driver in F1 history and Ferrari, the sport’s most iconic and legendary team, held immeasurable promise for glory and greatness. Yet that quickly faded through a difficult first season, one that Hamilton described as a nightmare and left him questioning his own abilities as he failed to score a single podium finish all year.Maybe what they said about aging sports stars was true, he thought. Perhaps now that he was in his 40s, he’d lost a bit of his edge.As Hamilton spoke, his voice heavy with emotion — and stretched through the lengthy round of TV interviews after the podium — he acknowledged the difficulties of last year, the criticism that had been laid his way. It’s impossible to avoid it all and to not be affected by it.“I’m only human,” he said in the post-race news conference. “There’s moments where I allowed it to get to me.”But he dug deep. “You always have (belief),” he said. “It just takes work. It takes perseverance, that constant believing in yourself.”Lewis Hamilton celebrates with his race engineer Carlo Santi after victory in Barcelona. (Clive Rose / Getty Images)He came back for the new season feeling fitter than ever. He worked hard with Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, to discuss what had to change if he were to get back to his best. A shake-up of his engineering group was something Hamilton has recently cited as being especially influential.The green shoots of recovery emerged through the early part of the year. The disheartened tone Hamilton struck so often through 2025 was now banished, instead buoyed by the potential he saw ahead.Yes, Mercedes had the best car, but back-to-back runner-up finishes in Canada and Monaco proved Hamilton was rediscovering his mojo. The swagger was back. Every act both inside and outside of the car said as much. But to win again, and add to his record tally of 105 victories, still required the right opportunity to come along, and for him to seize it.The fashion in which he did that in Spain was like watching Hamilton at his dominant best, back in his run of six titles in seven years with Mercedes.The aggressive strategy made him the hunter against his former team, putting the pressure on George Russell. Hamilton and Ferrari opted to pit three times so he could push flat out versus Mercedes’ two-stop strategy that mandated more tire management, a task made all the more difficult as the track surface temperature exceeded 50ºC (122ºF).But to win by nearly 20 seconds? That is Prime Lewis Hamilton. A state that, as he sat on the sofa in the news conference and took a moment to take in the enormity of what had just happened, had once felt so far off.“I think it’s going to definitely take me some days to really look back at this for sure, and be like, ‘damn, I wish I had the right words,’” Hamilton said. “How do you find the right words to express an emotion that’s beyond your wildest dreams?”Those dreams belonged to both Hamilton and Ferrari. He knew what this result meant to everyone at the team, one driven like no other by its passion and history.Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Lando Norris take a selfie during the post-race press conference. (Clive Rose / Getty Images)Unsurprisingly, there was only one story anyone wanted to discuss post-race. Russell and Lando Norris, who’d finished the race second and third, got through their news conference duties before Hamilton had even arrived.“Is anyone here going to ask us a question?” Norris had asked the assembled media upon arriving, tongue-in-cheek. There were a handful of questions and both paid tribute to Hamilton’s success.After getting out of the car, Hamilton immediately sprinted over to the mechanics that jostled to get close to him in the pit lane, pressing up against the fence separating them. Those further back were already waving Ferrari flags.“It was really amazing to witness and to see the joy in their eyes and to feel it with them,” Hamilton said. “I nearly passed out after I hugged them. I just felt my heart was exploding with joy.”Lewis Hamilton celebrates with his team in parc ferme.(Clive Rose / Getty Images)But Hamilton also moved to lay bare the gratitude he felt for the support that got him back to the top step of the podium. He spoke warmly of Vasseur, his old friend with whom he’d first crossed paths in junior racing series more than 20 years ago, and without whom “I wouldn’t be in this team,” for maintaining faith in him and being receptive to change.“He continued to believe,” Hamilton said, his voice growing a touch more emotional. “(He) continued to be a good friend, continued to be a great teammate and an ally, and (be) really supportive.”Vasseur, ever the realist, declined to take credit. “I have zero merit on this, it’s more Lewis himself,” he told reporters after the race. “He was able to come back after (the) tough moments.”Perhaps even more striking was Hamilton’s thanks to his fans, who he said really rescued him last year by continuing their support through the tough times.He used that word, “rescued,” in multiple post-race interviews; a sign of just how great those doubts once grew for such a great champion. The huge cheers from the grandstand as he crossed the line, despite Barcelona hardly being home territory for Hamilton or Ferrari, showed just how well-supported he remains.On Sunday, he got to live every single bit of the Ferrari dream almost every racing driver has in their mind, yet so few get to experience. The one that was in Hamilton imagined when, 30 years ago, he watched Michael Schumacher score his first Ferrari win — also in Barcelona — while sitting on his dad’s sofa eating a sandwich.What would it be like to be in the red car? (“My cockpit happens to be white,” Hamilton said with a laugh, “which I wasn’t happy about. I wanted to be red, like Michael. So hopefully I’ll get back red at some stage.”)But to be a Ferrari driver? To win as a Ferrari driver? Now Hamilton knows the answer to those questions.He’s got to add this rare, beautiful chapter to a career like no other, delivering a plot-twist in a script that looked to be heading one way last year.Will he win another world championship to surpass Schumacher’s tally of seven titles and achieve his ultimate goal with Ferrari? That story is still to be written.For now, Hamilton just wants to revel in his latest peak and make this moment last as long as possible.“I think this is the first step of our story,” he said.