Vettel’s victory a steal
LEWIS Hamilton was robbedbbed at Albert Park yesterday.
The fastest driver in thehe fastest car was quickestt away from the grid but only second at the finish, despite leading comfortably in his Mercedes-AMG.
It was the brokendown Haas of French-man Romain Grosjeanan that decided the result, ass he triggered a safety car periodriod at the start of lap 25 that allowedlowed Sebastian Vettel to overtakenrtaken Hamilton with a speedy dash through the pits for his single tyre change.
“If you look and you are fair, Lewis was fastest,” Vettel admitted.
“Needless to say, we got lucky with the timing of the safety car. It was our key to win.
So it was red-silver-red at the finish, with the Ferraris of Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen sandwiching the Mercedes of Hamilton.
“Wearing red, it is a good day today,” said Vettel, who recorded his third win in the Australian Grand Prix.
“I was happy to take the third place. Not ideal, but I was pretty happy with everything,” Raikkonen said.
For Hamilton, there was disbelief. He sat for a long time in his car after the finish, trying to work out what had happened and why a straightforward win had slipped away.
“Honestly, I don’t really understand even now what’s happened. I did everything I was supposed to do,” Hamilton said.
Hometown hero Daniel Riccardo drove a smart, heady race to come home fourth from eighth at the start, the best result yet for an Australian in the Albert Park event, in contrast to the wild drive by his teammate mad Max Verstappen that only gave him sixth.
“It was good. We were fast at the end. We set the fastest lap, and really good sign of things to come in the next few weeks,” Ricciardo said.
“I obviously tried to do all I could with Kimi. It’s a tight track. It is tricky to overtake.”
The 58-lap contest looked like another snoozefest when Hamilton jumped away from the front, with Raikkonen initially applying the pressure and Vettel solid in third but not showing much as a potential winner.
There were early retirements from Toro Rosso and Alfa Romeo, but the real action began when the two Haas cars of Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, which were both in the top six, pitted and immediately retired with loose wheels. “It’s a tough one to swallow for the whole team, with both cars not finishing in such good positions and so much anticipation coming up to this race. Being in such a good position with both cars, it’s just so heartbreaking to finish like that,” said Magnussen.