TOO SLOW LEW
Hamilton lands penalty for pit lane error
SEBASTIAN VETTEL landed the latest punch in his blow-for-blow battle with Lewis Hamilton for the world title.
The German did not miss a beat on his way to victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, a win which gives the Ferrari driver a seven-point advantage over his Mercedes rival.
Hamilton had a rockier race under the floodlights of the Sakhir Circuit as he battled his way to second spot.
But if the Brit hadn’t resorted to a bit of gamesmanship, he might well have been on the top step of the podium for the second race in succession.
He was hit with a five-second penalty for driving too slowly when heading into the pits, a ploy designed to hamper Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo’s chances.
And after fluffing his start from second on the grid, runner-up was a reasonable return. Following his final pit stop ® from JAMES MURRAY in Bahrain Formula One fans were treated to Hamilton at his pulsating best, the threetime world champion reeling off a string off fastest laps as he slashed a 19-second gap to Vettel to just over six seconds by the time the chequered flag was waved.
Three rounds in and there has been nothing to suggest that the destiny of the 2017 drivers’ championship will be anything other than a see-saw battle between Hamilton and Vettel.
Suffered
They will not admit it yet but both Mercedes and Ferrari must already be contemplating relegating their other drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen, to the role of wing men.
That was evident at Mercedes. They twice ordered Bottas, who had started on pole but suffered handling problems, to get out of Hamilton’s way as he did his
best to catch Vettel. At the start, Hamilton found himself in the role of the hunter after a slow getaway allowed Vettel to storm past.
In the early stages Bottas still looked like being a factor, holding Vettel at bay. But Ferrari’s decision to make Vettel the first of the front runners to pit for fresh rubber proved to be the turning point.
It dropped him to 12th – but by the time the rest of the pack had pitted behind the safety car following a coming together between the Williams of Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz, he was sitting pretty at the front.
Vettel was certainly helped by Hamilton’s decision to trundle into the pits with Ricciardo crawling all over his gearbox.
With Max Verstappen having crashed out with a brake failure, Hamilton was clearly intent on taking another Red Bull out of the picture. The stewards agreed with the view of Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner, who described the tactic as “a bit naughty”, and Hamilton was punished.
It robbed the fans of a grandstand finale to this particular race, Vettel ultimately keeping Hamilton at arm’s length with Bottas coming home third ahead of Raikkonen.