Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany, left and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands drive next to each other after colliding during the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, Spain, Sunday, May 14, 2017.

Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix after a race-long battle with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel leads the points and either he or Hamilton will look for their second Spanish Grand Prix wins, while if Bottas turns in another start like he did in Russian Federation, he could well extend that streak of variety to 11 drivers in 11 years.

Vettel had been closing back on the Mercedes as Hamilton's softer rubber began to run out until, with just a handful of laps to go, he struggled to lap the Williams of Felipe Massa - costing him a couple of seconds and denying viewers of a last gasp battle for the win.

"It was just the rawest fight I can remember having for some time, which I loved".

It was his 2nd win in 5 starts this year and the 55th of his career and it brought him within 6 points of Mr. Vettel in the F1 championship race. "It was just very unlucky - it was just a small touch really".

"It's great to have a battle and a fight with another team is so much nicer and more enjoyable because there's no tension within our team". The answer was yes as he crossed the line to claim his second victory of the season, 3.4 seconds clear of Vettel.

"It all started when I got hit, my auto jumped a bit and you can not control after that", Raikkonen said.

Those seconds meant that when Vettel emerged from a second pit stop he was neck-and-neck with a hard-charging Hamilton. Though Vettel got by eventually with a sensational overtaking move, Hamilton had already made up a significant amount of time.

Bottas was then reduced to playing a supporting role for Hamilton's bid to win on an alternative strategy.

Vettel was the first driver to stop for a slight issue with his front tyre delaying him only fractionally. "At the end I was able to manage the soft tires".

Before he broke down, Bottas gave Hamilton some critical help by holding Vettel up through a thrilling lap-long duel.

"We lost four seconds", the Ferrari driver said. "I was doing what I could to say in front, but as soon as I was alone he just flew past".

Mexican Sergio Perez finished fourth, his 15th successive points finish, for Force India with French rookie team mate Esteban Ocon fifth.

Meanwhile, McLaren's Fernando Alonso qualified an incredible seventh despite missing the majority of practice following yet another Honda engine failure. Massa, on the other hand, finished 13th, ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Jolyon Palmer and teammate Lance Stroll.

The scrape between Raikkonen and Verstappen wasn't the only incident.