CLOSER ENCOUNTER!

‘Cold-blooded’ Lewis cuts Max lead in title race to eight points

TOTO WOLFF put his finger on precisely what inspired Lewis Hamilton to a merciless victory in Qatar that suggested he might well fight all the way to his eighth — and possibly greatest — conquest of the Formula One world.

‘They woke up a lion on Saturday in Interlagos,’ said the Mercedes team principal, referring to the race in Brazil a week ago and the two punishments the FIA stewards inflicted on Hamilton then. Those sanctions provoked the Briton to rise from the grave to clinch a victory that stands among his finest ever.

Wolff, the lion tamer, continued: ‘He is absolutely on it. Brutal. And cold-blooded. This is the best Lewis. When adversity happens it takes him to a place where he is able to mobilise super-hero powers. It was Interlagos that triggered it.’

Mercedes believed the powers that be, the FIA to be precise, were dead against them adding to their monopoly of seven drivers’ and seven constructors’ titles in the hybrid era; that a new face, belonging to Max verstappen, would be most welcome.

A siege mentality took hold. As one Mercedes executive confided: ‘We are not just fighting Red Bull, but the FIA.’

The upshot of all this intrigue, and Hamilton’s typical response to it, is that Mercedes’ star man has trimmed the gap to Red Bull’s verstappen to eight points with two races remaining.

He was 19 adrift only a couple of races ago. The fainthearted totally wrote him off. Even those of us who backed him from the start wobbled as the evidence mounted up.

Momentum has now shifted Hamilton’s way.

He took pole here in Doha by a yawning half-a-second and led with perfectly judged control during 57 laps of pole-to-flag superiority.

verstappen was mighty good, too. He qualified second fastest but was tipped down the grid for failing to slow adequately under double-waved yellow flags at the end of Saturday’s session. He started from seventh.

Off the line, the Dutchman sliced right past Hamilton’s team-mate valtteri Bottas, who had been moved back three places for the equivalent offence under single-waved yellow flags. verstappen then scythed up to second by lap five.

nevertheless, Hamilton, the big cat, had his mouse just where he wanted him: nine seconds behind for most of this inaugural race under lights, while still holding plenty in reserve.

The measure of these two men’s superiority is that they would both have been a minute clear of third-placed Fernando Alonso (the Alpine driver’s first podium for seven years, aged 40) but for a late virtual safety car that tempted verstappen into the pits to be reshod for a successful shot at the fastest lap. Hamilton was still 59 seconds ahead as he took the chequered flag.

The championship fight can be cut either way. It might be over in Saudi Arabia a week on Sunday. If Hamilton does not score, verstappen only needs to finish in the top two. An alternative, if Hamilton wins and takes the fastest lap with verstappen second, they go to Abu Dhabi the following week level on points.

Hamilton is strengthened by the general feeling that the final two tracks, especially the long straights offered by the purposebuilt Jeddah road circuit, play into Mercedes’ hands.

Another interesting line from Wolff was his strong hint that the rocket-like engine Hamilton deployed so devastatingly in Brazil, which appears not to have been used this weekend, will return to stretch its legs next time.

‘We’ll get our spicy equipment out for Saudi that we didn’t use in Doha,’ promised the Austrian. He added: ‘We hope to get valtteri right up there — we need him.’

Ah, yes, he spent yesterday pretending to be a double-agent. The Finn, lacking penetration, finally limped to retirement as a result of damage brought about by a mid-race puncture. Hamilton could do with getting his Jeeves back, fast.

A few other points: the Doha track turned out to be more conducive to overtaking than anticipated but, after a year’s hiatus for the World Cup which is due to start in just under 12 months, a new street circuit will be constructed under a 10-year deal with Formula One. That duplication is petrodollars for you. Mind you, this stadium only holds 8,000 souls. And to think 8,129 watched Doncaster draw 0-0 with Lincoln on Saturday.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was unhappy about verstappen’s grid penalty. He blamed a ‘rogue marshal’ for waving what he considered to be a needless yellow flag. The criticism earned him a warning from the stewards.

In passing, the officials are making their determinations so abysmally slowly that you wonder if they are putting their filets mignons ahead of prompt decision-making. For example, yesterday’s grid penalties were issued only 95 minutes before lights out, 21 hours after the transgressions had occurred.

Anyway, Horner offered to apologise to the marshal. Wolff relished his nemesis being up before the beak. ‘I don’t even know what to say,’ he said, before ending his press conference laughing so much he could hardly speak.