Lewis Hamilton supreme from start to finish to win Spanish Grand Prix and extend world championship lead

While Hamilton moved to within just three victories of Schumacher’s overall win record – one he could now match at Ferrari’s 1,000th grand prix in Tuscany on Sept 13 – he also toppled the German’s all-time podium tally here. No driver in Formula One’s 70-year history has stood on a grand prix rostrum more times than Hamilton’s stunning 156 visits from 256 starts.

Hamilton’s hero Ayrton Senna, after he had recorded what is regarded as his greatest ever pole lap around the streets of Monaco, famously said he “was no longer driving consciously”.

The triple world champion, who lit up the Principality to finish 1.427 seconds clear of rival Alain Prost in identical McLaren machinery, continued: “I was in a different dimension. It frightened me because I realised I was well beyond my conscious understanding.”

Hamilton will have been just three when Senna delivered that particular moment of F1 antiquity. Fast-forward 32 years, and it is now the boy from Stevenage who is re-writing the sport’s history books.

Crossing the line to claim his fourth triumph from six outings this year, a satisfied Hamilton said over the radio: “I was just in a daze out there. I was in a different zone.

“There is an immense amount of pressure on all of us to perform, and the goal is always to chase to perfection and be in that zone.

“You can be close but not in your perfect rhythm, but for whatever reason, and I can’t quite pinpoint why, it felt like I was in the most clear zone, with a clarity.

“I don’t know how you to get in that space but I felt fantastic in the car. I didn’t make mistakes and I delivered lap upon lap – it is the zone that I dream of being in.

“I was ecstatic when I came across the line. I didn’t realise it was still the last lap. I was still going like a horse with those blockers on.

“For me it is right up there in terms of how I drove, how I really delivered and up there with some of the best performances that I feel I have done. I am definitely going to have a glass of wine tonight to celebrate.”

Hamilton will head to the seventh round in Belgium later this month with a 37-point lead over Verstappen. Should he win there, and in Imola a week later, the Tuscan Grand Prix at Ferrari’s home track in Mugello will provide Hamilton with the opportunity to equal Schumacher’s 91 victories – the last of which he recorded at China in 2006.