Lew's worst first
Team-mate hands it to Hamilton
LEWIS HAMILTON refused to celebrate after winning yesterday’s Russian Grand Prix to move within striking distance of a fifth world crown.
Mercedes team-mate and race leader Valtteri Bottas, who started on pole, was ordered to let Hamilton overtake him with 30 laps left. It moved him 50 points clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in the championship with only five races left.
Hamilton (right) said: “It doesn’t feel great. I definitely don’t think I have finished first in my career and feel the way that I do right now.”
LEWIS HAMILTON and Mercedes racing chief Toto Wolff were beating themselves up after using team orders to deny Valtteri Bottas victory in yesterday’s Russian Grand Prix.
But even Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel said is was “a no-brainer” as Hamilton won to move 50 points ahead in their private battle for a fifth world crown.
Wolff admitted he had a sleepless night after Bottas beat Hamilton to pole on Saturday, fearing he would have to use cynical team orders to give the British driver an edge.
Back in 2002 a similar move brought an outcry when Rubens Barrichello let Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher pass him in Austria on his way to the fifth of his seven world titles.
It might not have been needed except for a strategy cock-up from Mercedes that dropped Hamilton into third place behind Bottas and Vettel when he stopped for tyres.
Shotgun
Wolff smashed his fist on a table as he watched from the garage. Hamilton took less than two laps to pass Vettel but damaged his tyres in the process.
Fearing the damage would leave Hamilton exposed, Bottas’ race engineer, Tony Ross, was told to pass on the bad news, on lap 23: “You need to let Lewis by into turn 13 of this lap.” The upshot was that Bottas rode shotgun as Hamilton made it five wins out of six to take an almost uncatchable lead with only five races left.
Wolff shouldered the blame, saying: “At the end, if five points or three points are missing, then you are the biggest idiot on the planet by prioritising Valtteri’s race over the championship.
“Somebody needs to be the baddie and it’s me today.”
With Russian president Vladimir Putin looking on, Hamilton eased Bottas’ pain, making him share the top step of the podium.
And the Brit said: “It’s very, very hard to find the right words. There are not many team-mates who would do something like that.”
Vettel had no complaints, describing it as “a no-brainer”.