Scuderia Ferrari HP leaves the Spanish Grand Prix and the new Madring circuit with a fourth-place finish for Charles Leclerc, while Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire on lap five due to a problem with the braking system.

The race result was largely determined by the starting positions established in yesterday's qualifying session: the team tried everything it could from a strategic point of view, splitting the tyre choices between the two cars to create different opportunities to make up some places.

Lewis started from fourth on Soft tyres and got off the line well, initially getting ahead of Max Verstappen before the Dutchman regained the position by cutting the chicane. On lap three, the Red Bull driver had to hand back the position to Lewis, but shortly afterwards he encountered a problem with the braking system which forced him to retire, the first time he has failed to finish a race this season. Charles, who started fifth on Hard tyres, moved up to fourth following his team-mate's retirement and then found himself in the lead when the drivers ahead of him - Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Verstappen and Lando Norris - pitted for Hard tyres, taking advantage of the Virtual Safety Car triggered when Lance Stroll stopped on track. With the drivers ahead of him having already made their stops, the team decided to keep Charles out on the Hards in order to make the most of any potential neutralisation in the remainder of the race. A red flag would have allowed him to change tyres while retaining his track position, while a Virtual Safety Car would have significantly reduced the time lost during a pit stop, allowing him to make up a place. Neither scenario occurred and Charles eventually pitted for Softs on lap 48, rejoining in fourth place behind Antonelli, Verstappen and Norris, the order in which they took the chequered flag.

Formula 1 now has race-free weekend before the World Championship resumes in two weeks' time with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku street circuit.

Charles Leclerc: The race was good and we brought home what was realistically the best result possible, given that this track is so difficult to overtake on. We did a good job with the strategy, playing our cards to suit our situation. We decided to take our chance and wait for a Safety Car to come up before the end of the race to gain an advantage, but it didn't play out that way in the end. If we had been on the opposite strategy, I would have finished fourth as well, so either way, we extracted the most we could out of our race.

Now we take a break and reset ahead of the next round in Baku, a track I've always enjoyed racing on in the past.

Lewis Hamilton: Firstly, a big thank you to the team for the job they did throughout the weekend. We were in a position to fight for a strong result and the car had been performing well.

Unfortunately, we encountered an issue with the braking system very quickly into the race which brought our afternoon to an early end. It's disappointing, especially considering all the effort that went into the weekend both here at the track and back at the factory.

We will turn our attention to the next race and do our best to come back strong there.

Fred Vasseur: Like a few other teams, we split the strategy today, starting one car on the Soft compound and the other on the Hard. With Charles, we were leading the group that started on the Hard tyre and he drove a very strong first stint, pushing for almost 50 laps while maintaining good pace throughout.

We knew there was a reasonable chance of a Safety Car or a red flag, so we decided to extend the stint and keep that opportunity open. A red flag could have put us in a position to fight for the win, while a late Safety Car could have given us a shot at third. In the end neither happened, but I think it was absolutely worth trying and Charles delivered a very solid performance. As for Lewis, at this stage we don't yet know the exact cause of the brake system issue that forced him to retire and we will investigate it thoroughly. Regarding the championship, our approach remains the same: we take it one race at a time, and our focus now turns to Baku.