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Karun Chandhok has revealed just how popular Lewis Hamilton’s victory at the Barcelona Grand Prix went down inside the F1 paddock, highlighting just how “rare” it is for a driver’s victory to be celebrated so widely among rivals.
With the grid now in Spielberg for the eighth round of the 2026 F1 season, Lewis Hamilton’s victory in Barcelona has hinted that Mercedes may not have as easy a route to the world championship this year as one may have thought after the first few rounds of racing.
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What’s more, Ferrari have continued with their aggressive upgrade strategy by bringing an engine upgrade to the power-sensitive Red Bull Ring in hopes of carrying on their forward momentum.
While Hamilton could certainly add a few more to his tally this year, his 106th Grand Prix victory was arguably one of his greatest, with Karun Chandhok now revealing the reception that it received in the F1 paddock.
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Karun Chandhok saw ‘everyone’ in the F1 paddock ‘happy’ after Lewis Hamilton’s Barcelona GP win
During Sky Sports F1’s coverage of FP1 at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Chandhok was asked to reflect on Hamilton’s victory in Barcelona and pinpoint what impressed him the most about the seven-time world champion’s drive.
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The former F1 driver had previously highlighted how Hamilton’s final stint reminded him of Michael Schumacher – more specifically, the legend’s exploits at the 1998 Hungarian Grand Prix.
“I thought the fact that they were bold with the way they went about the strategy for the race,” Chandhok replied (12:03 26/6). “In recent years, we’ve had plenty of examples of Ferrari not quite getting it right and being criticised for their strategy.
“They took the blankets off, and he started on a set of soft tyres, I thought, ‘Ooh, that’s exciting.’ And that clearly indicated a three-stop, they rolled the dice, and tried to do something different to Mercedes.
“They really won that race by being aggressive; it wasn’t something that just fell into their lap. Yes, they got lucky with the VSC, but in terms of pace, it was a fantastic performance.”
Chandhok then revealed how well Hamilton’s victory was received by the F1 paddock, highlighting how “rare” it was to see every team on the grid coming together and celebrating the result in their own way.
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“He ignites excitement, Lewis, doesn’t he? The whole paddock, for me, was the big standout,” he added.
“We walked up and down the paddock after the race, and everyone was happy, which, in this dog-eat-dog world of F1, is pretty rare to find other teams being happy for one driver.”
There likely hasn’t been such a popular result in the paddock since Nico Hulkenberg’s maiden F1 podium at last year’s British Grand Prix. The media centre was reportedly in uproar with cheers and applause after the German finally achieved the feat after 239 attempts.
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