Lewis makes prancing horse look like a dead donkey
LEWIS HAMILTON was giftwrapped an “incredible” win at the Russian Grand Prix after Ferrari blew their chance with a mid-race meltdown.
The Briton said he was keeping his feet on the ground despite taking a 73-point lead as he hunts a sixth world title.
On a day to forget for those in red, Valtteri Bottas followed Hamilton home. The pair profited from Sebastian Vettel’s retirement, which saw team-mate Charles Leclerc drop from first to third.
Before Vettel’s retirement, Ferrari were in a right mess as the four-time world champion disobeyed orders to hand the lead to Leclerc.
Vettel’s engine then blew up and the Virtual Safety Car played into Hamilton’s hands as he gained time on his pit-stop to earn the 82nd win of his career to leave him nine short of Michael Schumacher’s all-time record.
“It feels like a long time coming,” said Hamilton after his first win since the August break. “It’s just incredible to have this result, considering how quick Ferrari were off the start. Just keeping up with them was incredibly hard.
“I try not to think too much about the championship – it’s one race at a time. Collectively that’s what we’re working on. It’s getting harder and harder as the season goes on” Hamilton had Ferrari to thank after their strategic mix-up, seven days after Vettel profited from his team’s tactics in Singapore. Last week the German jumped a furious Leclerc in the only round of pit stops. Yesterday it had seemingly been agreed that if Vettel benefited from the slipstream and moved ahead of Leclerc from the start, he would have to concede the position. But Vettel refused and said: “I would have passed him anyway.”
There was a series of awkward exchanges on the radio, and Leclerc later said: “I will always trust the team but the tactic was me giving the slipstream to be one-two at the end of the straight, which happened. “But I don’t know. I need to speak with the team to know the information.”