Hamilton closes in on sixth title
MERCEDES: GERMAN TEAM’S ONE-TWO IN RUSSIAN GP
Aeuphoric Lewis Hamilton extended his world championship lead to 73 points yesterday when he rode his luck to claim a strategic victory for Mercedes in a roller-coaster Russian Grand Prix.
The defending five-time champion came home 3.829 seconds ahead of team-mate and nearest championship rival Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes took advantage of Ferrari’s reliability and tactical problems by delivering a Silver Arrows one-two.
Having grabbed the lead from pole man Charles Leclerc on the opening lap, Sebastian Vettel ignored team orders to let him pass before he suffered a mechanical failure and stopped on lap 28.
The resultant Safety Car period gifted Mercedes, who started on medium tyres while their rivals all used softs, a chance to extend their Sochi supremacy to six consecutive wins.
Leclerc came home a frustrated and disgruntled third, claiming he expected Vettel to repay him for his slip-stream in a race punctuated by two Safety Car interventions and one use of the Virtual Safety Car.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished fourth, ahead of team-mate Alex Albon, who had started from the pit lane.
“That’s exactly what we needed,” exclaimed a delighted Hamilton following a flawless strategic performance by Mercedes.
“It was an incredible job by all the team – not giving up. Keeping up with Ferrari was a hard task, but we kept pushing.”
Leclerc had made a clean start, but behind him Vettel enjoyed a superb launch from third to pass Hamilton by the first corner and, after slip-streaming the Monegasque, taking the lead.
Before the order settled, Ricciardo collided with Grosjean at Turn Four sending the Haas driver spinning into the barriers. A Safety Car was deployed and Grosjean retired.
Vettel was 3.6 seconds clear by lap 16 as Leclerc held off Hamilton until the team freed him to attack before he pitted for mediums on lap 23, Hamilton taking second.
The Ferrari re-joined fourth behind Bottas. Within two laps, Vettel said ‘my rears are falling now’, but Ferrari left him out until lap 27 when, with a three-seconds stop, he was half-a-second slower than Leclerc and re-joined behind him in fourth.
Vettel’s race ended seconds later when a power failure saw him stop at Turn 15. – AFP