LIFE’S GRAND FOR HAMILTON
Lewis wins 1,000th race as Ferrari splits exposed by move to favour Vettel
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 the Briton 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, who leads the standings by six points from Bottas and will, surely, outperform his team-mate 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 pole-sitter 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.
Vettel stared out of the window, his happy-chappie air gone. Leclerc’s face was blank. Asked if he was satisfied with Binotto’s explanation, he said: ‘well, yes.’ which was hardly convincing. ‘It was not an easy situation on track,’ he added.
Binotto claimed it was a difficult decision but insisted it was the right one and thanked Leclerc for being a good team player.
Vettel bristled: ‘I knew the moment it happened I would have to face these questions. I was asked if I could go faster. I answered that I felt I could. It was fair.’ There is a short history here. Leclerc’s request to overtake Vettel in Melbourne last month was denied. Then in Bahrain a fortnight ago he was told not to race the German. On the first occasion the Monegasque fell in line; the second time he went for the pass and would have secured his first Formula One victory but for a late engine failure.
The problem Ferrari have is of their own making and it will not go away. They want to have a clear No 1 — it is their established modus operandi — and so they should not have engaged two drivers of similar standard. Kimi Raikkonen was the perfect foil to Vettel before the quiet Finn was discarded at the end of last season. Now they have two alphas and that is inevitably trouble. However, if they are going to have a favoured driver policy, it still makes sense for that man to be Vettel. He is the fourtimes world champion, a winner of 52 races. Leclerc must wait his turn to be the star. The real crunch comes not three races into the campaign but if over a sustained period Leclerc dominates his team-mate. The Ferrari boys simply cannot afford to share their points, not least in a car that has failed to live up to its pre- season billing. Rediscovering pace is their avowed top priority before Azerbaijan a week on Sunday.
As for Hamilton (left), who led home Mercedes’ third successive one-two, he holds the championship lead for the first time this season. That augurs well for him. He traditionally only unfurls his best magic tricks when the competition crescendos. His advantage over Vettel is 31 points, over Leclerc, 32. Verstappen is ahead of the two Ferrari men, 29 adrift, and that tells the story.
Hamilton became only the second man to lead 4,000 Formula One laps. The other is Michael Schumacher, whose records are the pinnacles Hamilton is conquering with a little help from the boys next door.