Lucky Hamilton handed unlikely victory at chaotic Azerbaijan GP
Hamilton snatches victory after teammate Bottas is forced to retire with three laps left
BAKU:Lewis Hamilton celebrated one of the luckiest wins of his career on Sunday after a crashstrewn and chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix that catapulted him into the lead of the Formula One world championship.
The surprise victory, after team mate Valtteri Bottas suffered a puncture with three laps left while leading, ended a six race drought for the four times champion dating back to last October.
It was the first victory of the season for champions Mercedes.
In a race where the safety car again played a major part, with a series of crashes and smashes, Kimi Raikkonen finished second for Ferrari while Mexican Sergio Perez was third for Force India.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who had led the championship before Baku and looked to be on course for a 50th career win and third out of four this season, started on pole position but finished fourth.
Hamilton now has 70 points to Vettel’s 66.
Red Bull’s Australian Daniel Ricciardo, last year’s winner in Baku and also in China two weekends ago, smashed into the back of team mate Max Verstappen in a lap 40 collision that ended the race for both of them.
“It was quite an emotional race. Valtteri did an exceptional job and deserved to win, Sebastian also did a great job so it feels a bit odd to be up here,” commented Hamilton on the podium.
“Definitely an untidy race for me.”
The Briton had started on the front row for the first time since he took pole in the Australian season-opener but never looked like winning until Lady Luck removed both Vettel and Bottas from the equation.
“It was such a crazy race, such an exciting race...to come out with a win, I feel incredibly grateful,” said Hamilton, who went to commiserate with Bottas after parking up his car at the finish.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz was fifth for Renault with Monegasque rookie Charles Leclerc sixth for Sauber, his first points in Formula One.
New Zealander Brendon Hartley was also celebrating his first point after taking 10th for Toro Rosso.
McLaren, who had their worst qualifying of the season on Saturday, ended up with a double points finish -- Fernando Alonso seventh and Stoffel Vandoorne ninth. Canadian teenager Lance Stroll, third in Baku last year, finished eighth to give struggling former champions Williams their first points of the year. Only 13 cars finished the race.
ALONSO LEFT UNDONE
Fernando Alonso somehow managed to get his McLaren to the pits after contact on the first lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix left him with two punctures.
The two-time world champion collided with Sergey Sorotkin on the run down to the third corner in an action-packed start in Baku, the Williams driver forced to retire as a result. Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Ocon also came together, leaving debris strewn across the track and resulting in the deployment of the safety car.
HAMILTON DEFENDED
Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff laughed off Bernie Ecclestone’s suggestion that Lewis Hamilton is “a bit tired” of Formula One as nothing more than a publicity “hand grenade”.
“All of us very much respect Bernie, but we have also learned to take the comments with a smile,” said Wolff.
“Lewis is remarkably easy with these kinds of things - I think that he sees it pretty relaxed. Bernie comes in and throws a hand grenade and it’s in the papers - it’s great.
“It’s Bernie’s way - he got all of you here (into F1) and me, and he made the sport big.