Hamilton faces ‘trick’ questions after defeat
FERRARI’S Sebastian Vettel enjoyed a smooth Spa-Francorchamps victory after getting past Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton early in a crashmarred Belgian Grand Prix yesterday.
Vettel overtook pole-sitter Hamilton shortly after the start and was never in trouble to finish ahead of the defending world champion by more than 11 seconds and close the gap in the drivers’ standings from 24 to 17 points. “I had a great start,” Vettel said. “I’m not sure Lewis saw me as he pushed me to the left in the first lap, but after last year I ended up short, and this year it was the other way around – this year was better.
“As soon as I was ahead I relaxed. I had a good restart after the safety car, and after that it was a very smooth race. We turned everything around and then controlled the race.”
Mercedes’ Hamilton said: “Congrats to Seb. I did everything I could and we ultimately did well, but he drove past me like I was not there.
“We have to keep pushing to see what we can do.
“They have got a few trick things going on in the car, I did what I could, we did what we could so we have to keep working.”
While Hamilton said Ferrari had “trick things going on” with their car after Vettel won yesterday, he emphasised he was not accusing his Formula One rivals of doing anything illegal.
The championship leader’s comments aroused immediate interest.
“We all have trick things going on our cars,” said the Briton.
“Trick is just a word for something special, I guess. “
Asked whether he felt Ferrari were doing something illegal, Hamilton initially said he had no idea what was on the Italian team’s car so could not say either way.
He said Ferrari had showed some serious pace in the race, particularly on the straights even if Mercedes were quicker in other areas.
“I’m not saying that there is anything illegal,” Hamilton added more forcefully as reporters returned to the subject.
“Trick is just something that helps you bring that extra bit of performance, that’s all I mean. So please don’t read into it and please don’t twist my words and say that I say they are doing anything illegal, because they’re not.
“They just out-performed us today and we’ve got to work harder. There’s things they might have on the car that we might not and vice-versa. We’ve got to try and find out what and improve on that.”
Vettel and Hamilton now have five wins each this season.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said Ferrari were very innovative and he had faith in the governing body to police things.
Formula One race director Charlie Whiting told reporters he was “quite amused”.
“We know quite a lot about the Ferrari car and there is no way Lewis would know anything about the Ferrari car,” he added.
The first Formula One race after the mid-season break began with a huge crash when McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was rammed by Nico Huelkenberg’s Renault, sending the Spaniard’s car flying over the top of Charles Leclerc’s Sauber.
All three drivers retired unhurt, and they were soon followed by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, a four-time winner at Spa, who had suffered damage from Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in the fall-out of the collision.
Huelkenberg was later slapped with a 10-place penalty for next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
Vettel stayed out of trouble and was always comfortable in front after a failed attempt by Mercedes to undercut the German on a pit stop at the half-way stage.
While Ricciardo eventually retired, teammate Max Verstappen clinched third place, ahead of Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas, who had begun in 17th, and Sergio Perez in the new Racing Point Force India team.
The race began spectacularly with Vettel’s charge past Hamilton and the first-lap collision, which triggered an immediate safety-car phase. “It was bad,” Alonso told Sky Sports. “On the start I saw Huelkenberg with four tyres locked coming at high speed, there is no way you can avoid that. He hit my car, and I went over Charles. On the positive side we are all okay. Also Charles with the (protective) halo, it is good to see that we all okay. When you hit someone at that speed you have to think twice next time. When you don’t brake for Turn One that is a big mistake.”
Hamilton pitted at the half-way stage of the 44-lap race, and Vettel came in a lap later for a tyre change to protect a lead he gradually extended.
It was a first win in Spa for Vettel as a Ferrari driver, his two previous victories coming with Red Bull, and a big boost for Ferrari ahead of their home race at Monza next weekend.
Vettel’s 52nd grand prix win now puts him ahead of Frenchman Alain Prost in the all-time list and third behind Michael Schumacher (91) and Hamilton (67).
The top 10 was completed by Force India’s Esteban Ocon, Haas duo Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly in a Toro Rosso and Marcus Ericsson in a Sauber. –dpa, Reuters