LEWIS: MY WIN’S FOR YOU, HARRY
Hamilton inspired by cancer battle of five-year-old boy
THERE were no recriminations this time, just away like the clappers and then no quarter given. Thus Lewis Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix, before revealing the touching sentiment that lay behind the 76th victory of his career.
The inspiration, the world champion revealed, for the gale of ferocity that blew away his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas off the start was a message from a fiveyear-old boy dying of cancer.
Harry Shaw is in palliative care at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital, from where he sent his hero a message of support pre-race. Wearing a Mercedes cap and lying in his bed, he said: ‘Lewis Hamilton. Good luck winning the race in Spain and thank you for all the gifts. Lots of love from Harry, and goodbye.’
Harry’s parents, Charlotte and James, contacted Mercedes last week after setting up a fund to raise money for research into the disease, Ewing’s Sarcoma, their son has been fighting for nine months.
After his victory, which restored him to the championship lead, Hamilton said: ‘I was looking for inspiration and something to grab so I dedicate today’s race to Harry. He was my spirit angel today.
‘You try to go out there and do something for someone. It doesn’t always turn out as well as it has but I hope he is watching. We sent him a cap and a card before the race. I will be sending him a message shortly after this and we are going to try to do something special for him.’
The Shaws had raised nearly £2,503 before Hamilton brought the cause to a wider audience.
The inspiration worked a treat. A fortnight after Hamilton played fair, too fair probably, when he came alongside Bottas at the opening corner in Azerbaijan, the Briton yesterday tore from second on the grid, passing the pole-sitting Finn as if he were in a milk float, and took the lead on the inside of the opening corner.
It was a brilliant riposte from Hamilton to the two important Bottas thrusts that preceded it: the Azerbaijan win and a fabulous lap in qualifying on Saturday, when he beat Hamilton, the one-lap miracle man, by 0.6sec.
Bottas was posing serious questions of Hamilton. The answer that came back here in a sunlit Barcelona was emphatic. The win was Hamilton’s third in succession here and lifted him seven points clear of Bottas, who finished second, with Max Verstappen an impressive third for Red Bull.
‘It was an interesting start and very, very close,’ said Hamilton. ‘That is where it was won. We are respectful to each other and that is how it will continue.’
And Ferrari? Their hopes disappeared with a puff of smoke. While Mercedes, who made it a recordextending sequence of five one-two finishes, the Scuderia tied themselves in knots once Sebastian Vettel flat-spotted his front-right tyre in an attempt to take the lead at the first corner.
The German could not make the move stick as he went side-by-side with Hamilton and Bottas.
The minor error produced the telling smoke cloud. Indeed, by the end of the race, Vettel was 48 points behind Hamilton.
At an early stage of the race the other Ferrari, of Charles Leclerc, was fifth and right on the hobbling Vettel’s tail. What would Ferrari do? They belatedly issued an order to let Leclerc through. Vettel obliged, while complaining about his own need to be re-shod.
Both Ferrari stops were slow — 4.4 seconds. Later, it was Vettel on Leclerc’s trail. Again, how would Ferrari respond?
They shilly-shallied before telling Leclerc to let Vettel pass. He did so on lap 36. But for too long Ferrari were in a dispute with themselves, losing time to the leaders.
Leclerc wondered aloud on the radio why he had been put on hard tyres when most of the rest were on mediums. The hards are the slowest compound but longest lasting, in theory.
As it happened we did not see which strategy, hards or mediums, would have prevailed over 66 laps because Lando Norris crashed his McLaren into Lance Stroll’s Racing Point and they careered into the gravel. Tyre choices were rendered irrelevant as the safety car came out, the die of the result already cast, as marshals swept away the stones liberally sprinkled on the track.
All the leaders went into the pits, but for Bottas who had just visited his garage. Nothing changed among the front-runners other than for Leclerc, who also detoured to the pits, losing a place to Verstappen, who is 46 points off the summit.
Hamilton had one final flourish to unfurl: the fastest lap that he roared to on new tyres with bewitching speed. It gave him the bonus point to cap a dream day, and a joy to share with Harry.