Key moments that help Lewis see off challenge from Vettel
LONDON: Mercedes AMG Petronas driver Lewis Hamilton was favourite from the start of the season to win a fifth world championship, but Sebastian Vettel’s early form for Ferrari set up an intriguing title battle between the pair.
The championship lead exchanged hands between the pair for much of the first half of the season before Hamilton found another gear to soar clear over the summer.
Here are the key moments from over the season.
A FALSE START DOWN UNDER
It was put to Toto Wolff that Mercedes would begin the season in Melbourne as favourites for the world title. Word from Italy was that Ferrari had endured a terrible pre-season.
Wolff played his team’s chances down. Nobody believed him. Another team principal sitting next to him pulled a face behind Wolff’s back to indicate he thought Mercedes would have it all their own way.
Hamilton underlined that possibility with a pole lap 0.7s ahead of the red cars, only for a miscalculation in the race to hand Vettel the win.
VETTEL’S MISTAKES
COST FERRARI
The idea that Ferrari were second best did not stand up to scrutiny. They had the faster car but the early results were inconsequential.
Soon a theme was emerging: Vettel’s self-induced errors, such as his over-exuberance in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, running wide and slipping down to fourth after attempting to take the lead off Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton went on to win when Bottas’ tyre exploded. Vettel’s mistake was one of eight that would undermine his championship challenge.
RAIN SPEEDS UP VETTEL’S SLIDE
The 11th race of 21, at Hockenheim, and the pendulum swings decisively. When rain starts to fall, Vettel veers into the sand at Sachs Kurve.
“It was a small mistake but had a big impact on the race,” says the German, who saw Hamilton come from 14th on the grid to triumph.
Trailing by eight points going into the weekend, the Briton was 17 ahead afterwards.
A CRUSHING BLOW
FOR THE TIFOSI Hamilton’s post-summer break form was blistering. Another great qualifying lap at the Belgian GP, though not the win, was followed by four consecutive victories. Two concussive blows were IT’S ALL OVER BAR THE SHOUTING
Clearly all was not well within Ferrari, and Vettel took the malaise to heart. Whereas the bond between Hamilton and his engineers grew stronger.
So at the Japanese GP, Vettel tried to force the issue with a needless move on Max Verstappen and crashed. He fought back to sixth but had lost 75 points to Hamilton in seven rounds. That was virtually that.