FERRARI DUO ARE LEFT TO SEETHE

IT WAS appropriate that Formula One’s 1,000th race was won by Lewis Hamilton, the motor racing great who has dominated the last quarter of all grands prix. But on this day for big numbers, when Hamilton took his 75th victory from 232 starts, it was the rumblings in the house next door — Ferrari — that could still be heard as dusk fell on Shanghai. The noise may last all year. While Hamilton celebrated a commanding win — his sixth in China — the controversy centred on team orders in the red corner after they switched their drivers around, favouring Sebastian Vettel over Charles Leclerc. The upshot was that Vettel finished third and Leclerc fifth, respectively behind Valtteri Bottas in second and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in fourth. The cards are all falling right for Hamilton (right), who leads the standings by six points from Bottas and will, surely, outperform his teammate and retain his title if Ferrari’s infighting costs them the ability to challenge him. Before tackling the team orders dilemma, we should record the first crucial development of the race: Hamilton’s blistering surge off the line, passing polesitter Bottas like the wind. The lead wrested, he then reeled off 56 faultless laps of dominance. The second key moment was the order delivered on lap 10. With Vettel less than a second behind the other Ferrari, Leclerc was told: ‘Let Seb by, let Seb by.’ The 21-year-old in only his third race for Scuderia registered his protest by saying: ‘But I’m pulling away.’ He then complied obediently. The team brought Vettel, 31, into the pits first of their two drivers, allowing him to hold his place in front of Verstappen. Leclerc, kept out four laps longer, fell behind the Dutchman. Former world champion Nico Rosberg thought Leclerc’s treatment was ‘too harsh’. The ‘victim’ himself asked for an explanation from Mattia Binotto, the new team principal. A few hours later, the first flush of anger having faded, Leclerc sat in the Ferrari hospitality area with Binotto and Vettel to face the press. They pretended the problems had been resolved, but, judging by the expressions they wore, it was far from the case.