Hamilton is ‘happy’ with fifth on grid for Bahrain

LEWIS HAMILTON raised a faint smile for a supporter shouting his name from the balcony. It was a faint smile sort of a night for the Mercedes man.

He received no apology, and said he didn’t expect one, in the FIA report that investigated the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, last December 12, and was published yesterday. It was little more than a tying up of loose ends.

And Hamilton, pictured, finished fifth in qualifying for Bahrain, so hardly brilliant, not when Ferrari and Red Bull are on a different plane, and worse given he was a yawning 0.680sec off the mark set by pole man Charles Leclerc.

Max Verstappen, 0.123sec adrift, was second best and Carlos Sainz third. Then Sergio Perez closed off the top four places for the two leading teams to start Formula One’s new dawn.

But after the travails of Friday, when his car juddered and bounced, it was glimmer of hope.

As for the FIA report, it admitted sacked race director Michael Masi’s ‘human error’, as close as the governing body felt they could get to a full mea culpa for the last-lap drama that helped Verstappen to the title and wrenched it from Hamilton.

The report said of the championship verdict that it was, ‘valid, final and cannot be changed’.

Hamilton said: ‘Look, I wasn’t expecting an apology and it is not something I have focused on. But at least there is that transparency and it is a ‘human error’ and that is a positive step.’

On the track, Hamilton’s Mercedes has been problematic.

He said: ‘I’m generally happy, given how we’ve been the last few weeks and the problems we’ve faced with the car. It’s a bit of a nightmare to drive. To get fifth in qualifying, when those guys ahead of us are in another league, is OK.’