CATCH OF THE DAY BY LEWIS
Brilliant Hamilton sees off Max by making up 22sec in 24 laps
APOLOGIES to Beethoven, Shakespeare, Caravaggio and Einstein, but none of you could have come from 22 seconds back inside 24 laps to win the Spanish Grand Prix.
That distinction fell to Lewis Hamilton, whom the 1994 world champion Damon Hill this weekend called ‘one of the most talented people ever to have walked the Earth’.
Steady on, this is just sport, driving in circles, but here was another reminder Hamilton remains a man apart in his chosen calling, his 100th career pole on Saturday followed by a charging drive to his fifth consecutive victory at the Circuit de Catalunya yesterday.
His third win in four rounds lifts him 14 points clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the world championship table.
It was the Dutchman who felt the full pulverising force of the champion’s abilities as he tried on older rubber to withstand the surge being mounted behind him. At the rate of 1.5sec a lap, sometimes more, Hamilton ate into the younger man’s advantage.
‘How far have I got to catch up?’ asked an anxious Hamilton. Race engineer Pete Bonnington told him it was 22 seconds. ‘We have done it before,’ he added, a reference to the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix where Hamilton ensnared Verstappen with three laps left.
Post-race yesterday, Verstappen admitted he knew his fate the moment Mercedes sprung their surprise — a strategic masterstroke — by calling in Hamilton for a second stop. In fairness, Verstappen drove without blemish but his pursuer was moving ineluctably towards his gearbox.
‘I don’t see how we are going to make it to the end,’ came Verstappen’s cry.
Duly, Hamilton passed team-mate Valtteri Bottas, on a different strategy, to go second. And with six laps remaining, he swept smoothly beyond his prey in the red and blue of Red Bull, jinking left and outside of the first corner.
‘I was a sitting duck,’ said Verstappen, who finished runner-up but with the fastest lap after making a late stop once his hopes of victory had been expunged.
It was win No 98 for Hamilton. ‘There is life in the old dog yet,’ he declared 24 hours after landing his 100th pole — a landmark which led Hill to comment on Hamilton’s talent. ‘I saw Damon’s tweet and I feel so much gratitude towards him,’ said Hamilton.
‘I remember growing up watching Damon and having, as I do now, so much respect for him. I was rooting for him as a Brit to succeed, even when he didn’t have a great car or good team.
‘It is definitely humbling when you see people you have admired and watched, or taken inspiration from, and hear them say positive and respectful things.’
At 36, Hamilton says he is feeling as fit as ever, a new training programme working for him.
He is up against a very fine rival in Verstappen, who showed his instinctive combativeness by lunging bravely down the inside of Hamilton at the opening bend, the place where he was later to be eclipsed.
‘This is a period of time where I have to be at my best because Max is driving exceptionally well,’ added Hamilton. ‘It is so close between all of us that it is going to take perfect delivery every weekend. I don’t think anyone can do that but it is about getting as close as possible.’
We should also hail Mercedes — they rise to every challenge. Their car was off the pace at the start of the season, but look at it now. And note how they got the big call right here, safe in the knowledge that Hamilton could fulfil his side of the bargain.
No wonder Red Bull team principal Christian Horner’s voice had a dejected air as he admitted there was nothing more they could have done on the day.
In the Mercedes garage, team principal Toto Wolff threw his hands up in the air in celebration as he savoured the satisfaction of team and driver excelling in perfect harmony. Alongside him sat Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man, who received the constructors’ trophy.
Ratcliffe has a one-third share in the team, with suggestions he may step in more deeply. That’s a prospect to give Mercedes’ rivals gastritis.
What else? Bottas, it should be noted, did not cede his place to Hamilton lightly. He was in his own fight for third with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and did not move over as he was asked to do.
Hamilton was unconcerned afterwards, calling the Finn the ‘best’ team-mate.
Bottas did indeed finish third, with Leclerc fourth and Sergio Perez, in the other Red Bull, fifth. The Mexican is yet to get his feet under the table at his new team, something he needs to do fast if Red Bull are going to take the
fight to the champions next door. When it was all over, Hamilton perhaps played with Verstappen’s mind, saying: ‘I learnt a lot about Max today, perhaps more than all the other races put together.’
Asked if he might elaborate, Hamilton said: ‘Not particularly. I was following closely so I learnt a lot about his car and how he uses it so it was a good race in that respect.’
Now if there is one man who would like to know what the winner meant, he was sitting next to him and his name is Max Verstappen. He may wake up thinking about it.
Next up is Monaco, a fortnight down the road. As for Hamilton, he promised: ‘It is about me bringing my A-game and the team bringing their A-game week in, week out.’ Red Bull have work to do. The warnings are everywhere.