F1 2020: Lewis Hamilton dominates as fans slam 'super boring' Spanish Grand Prix

The first five races of the season delivered some great racing but fans have rebelled against a Spanish GP that had next to no surprises.

Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas - more of the same from the F1 powerhouses.

Mercedes' dominance has continued with Lewis Hamilton claiming yet another victory in the Spanish Grand Prix in a 66-lap race that had few surprises.

Hamilton claimed his fifth Spanish Grand Prix win, as he became the 22nd driver out of 30 races to go from pole position to the top of the podium at the Barcelona track.

It was his 156th podium, going one ahead of Michael Schumacher's record but fans were still not happy after a rather predictable race.

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The win never seemed in doubt with Hamilton winning the race by 24 seconds to Red Bull's Max Verstappen and 44 seconds to Valtteri Bottas.

The leading drivers lapped everyone else on track in a dominant display.

Sadly though, the complete domination detracted from another masterful performance from Hamilton as he once again made history.

Another big with for Lewis Hamilton.

Fans pointed to the decision for tyre supplier Pirelli to go to a harder compound as an issue as the tyre problems that have marred the last two weeks of racing barely received a mention.

While Verstappen had some issues that led to some cranky battles with his team, it barely impacted the race.

"These tyres have nothing left," he said on team radio before his first pit. "Do I have to repeat it again? This tyre is dead."

He then admonished his team for telling him how Hamilton was going with his race engineer telling him: "Keep your head down Max, please."

In the 42nd lap, arguably the most interesting thing happened with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc spinning out when his engine turned off.

When he couldn't turn it back on, he took his seatbelt off before the engine restarted. He then limped back to the garage for his first mechanical retirement.

There was more history than Hamilton's podium record as well with Kimi Raikkonen claiming the record for having driven the most distance in F1 history.

Another record for Kimi, achieving the longest distance raced in an @F1 car (83,846 km)! 🏆

That's more than 2 full laps of the Earth! 🌎 + 🌎 pic.twitter.com/fNqCa9lfsV

— Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN (@alfaromeoracing) August 16, 2020

But fans were not happy with the race, taking to social media to share a big yawn for another one-sided result. Even the threat of rain was unable to add intrigue to proceedings.

Ars Technica journalist Jonathan Gitlin tweeted: "This was a bad race, F1."

Canadian motorsport journalist Jeff Pappone commented: "F1 can keep Barcelona as a test track, but it's horrible for racing..."

It's not Lewis Hamilton's fault he's so dominant.

After two major crashes rocked the Moto2 and MotoGP races, evo India magazine editor Sirish Chandran posted: "MotoGP should not preceed F1. Anti climax..."

Welsh TV presenter Gareth Jones said: "I think slow-mo chess might be even more exciting than a race at Circuit de Catalunya" after one of his followers was looking for entertainment in the snooker.

MTV India presenter Nikhil Chinapa also said: "I think Pirelli brought a harder compound tire to this weekend, compared to Silverstone last weekend. Ended up making the race super boring."

.@F1 is known for a lot of things but competitive balance has never been one of them. @LewisHamilton absolutely destroys the field (again) in the #SpanishGP

— Todd Fuhrman (@ToddFuhrman) August 16, 2020

Mercedes having their own private party. Verstappen a gate crasher. No one else invited. #F1

— Mark Gallagher (@_markgallagher) August 16, 2020

Hamilton wins the Spanish GP by a mile. 39 consecutive points finishes. 88 wins in F1.
Mega job from Verstappen to split the Mercedes in second.
Bottas in third - not good enough from the Finn.

— Ben Hunt (@benjhunt) August 16, 2020

But a win is a win and Hamilton was happy with the points, which put him in the box seat for a seventh world championship title and in sight of Schumacher's most race wins record (he is currently three wins behind).

"I was just in a daze, I felt really good out there today," he said. "We had this problem with the tyres, and an understanding of what happened last week enabled us to get that result today - the strategy we had was just right.

"I didn't even realise what lap it was - I was ready to keep going."

For Aussie fans, Daniel Ricciardo's bad weekend continued. He fell from 13th to 11th on the grid, narrowly missing out on points as he got close to McLaren's Lando Norris in 10th but ultimately didn't have the opportunity to overtake on the closing laps.

SPANISH GRAND PRIX RESULT

1st: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 

2nd: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 

3rd: Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

4th: Lance Stroll (Racing Point)

5th: Sergio Perez (Racing Point)

6th: Carlos Sainz (McLaren) 

7th: Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)

8th: Alexander Albon (Red Bull)

9th: Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)

10th: Lando Norris (McLaren)