Hamilton pips Bottas as Mercedes clinch fifth 1-2
FORMULA 1 Briton goes seven points clear on top; Ferrari’s poor run continues
Schumacher has more with 91.
As opposed to his win here in 2017 and 2018 from pole position, Hamilton had to overtake polesitter Bottas. Once in front he cruised through the race’s 66 laps without a challenge.
Hamilton got the jump on Bottas off the line when Vettel leapt forward and made it three abreast going through the first corner. Vettel locked up on the turn, and Bottas, sandwiched in the middle, had to blink to avoid a possible collision as Hamilton sped clear.
Verstappen took advantage of the joisting to slip by Vettel and into third. Ferrari was faster on this same track during two weeks of preseason testing this winter and had hoped to make up the gap by bringing in a new engine for the race. But Mercedes was unfazed and stormed to victory.
While the Mercedes pair and Verstappen zoomed away, the Ferraris joisted with each other and watched their chances to even salvage a podium spot fade away. Leclerc overtook the slower Vettel, then Vettel hunted Leclerc down and they both lost time while Leclerc defended his spot until Ferrari finally ordered him to let Vettel past.
Bottas had shown faster speed in practice and in qualifying than Hamilton, when Bottas set a scorching track record that was a whopping 0.6 seconds faster than the Brit’s best effort.
Bottas’ chances for victory were sunk by his poor start, when his wheels appeared to spin while Hamilton immediately made up the difference. “It was pretty tight (at the first curve), but I lost it at the start,” Bottas asid. “I feft some strange behavior with the clutch. I lost it there.”
Except for the race in Bahrain, when Hamilton won thanks to an implosion by Ferrari, the other four races this season have been decided in their opening meters.
MUMBAI DARSHAN