Hamilton goes to the limit to down Vettel in a classic
Briton loses more than 4lb in Spanish victory German’s lead in title duel cut to five points
Lewis Hamilton used his last vestiges of energy when he leapt out of his Mercedes and into the arms of his euphoric mechanics. It was the 55th victory of a magnificent career, but few have required a physical effort as Herculean as this. The Circuit de Catalunya is notoriously demanding of drivers’ bodies, with its abrasive surface and high-speed corners, and Hamilton looked a husk in the wake of 66 laps of compelling duelling with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
On the scales, he saw that he had lost 4½ pounds in weight. Hamilton had decided against carrying drinks in his car, to save on overall load, and even the jeroboam of champagne that he sprayed all over the podium here could barely have replaced the amount of fluid lost. But when he allows himself a look at the championship standings, with his deficit to Vettel cut to five points at the top, he can reflect that it was worth every drop.
In a race of see-sawing fortunes as the two outstanding drivers of their generation skirmished, Hamilton prevailed thanks both to his cussedness and the tactical astuteness of Mercedes’ engineers. He had lost the advantage of pole position by the first corner as Vettel dived down the inside, but an ingenious rethink by the Silver Arrows allowed him to attack his rival in the final stages on faster soft tyres. The plan worked to perfection as he swept past the German on lap 44 with a beautifully timed overtake, laying the platform for one of his finest and most richly satisfying wins.
Hamilton lives for battles of this intensity. Having tired of the quarrelsome relationship with Nico Rosberg, his former team-mate, he relishes a straight, honest head-tohead with an opponent he likes and admires. “To stay on Seb was a killer,” he said. “He was so fast up ahead, it was such a push to keep up. It is the rawest fight I can remember having for some time, which I loved. This is how the sport needs to be every single race – it is what got me into racing from the beginning. To be able to have this battle with a four-time champion is awesome.”
Barely the width of a sheet of sugar paper can separate ate Hamilton and Vettel on this evidence. vidence. It is testament to their pre-eminence e-eminence – and to the skill of their r teams in the technological arms race ce – that even though both cars arrived ved in Barcelona with upgrades galore, they have never been closer oser on the track. A mere 51 hundredthsndredths of a second apart in qualifying, lifying, they jousted with the same me ferocity throughout the grand prix, raising the prospect of a tusussle that could extend nd unabated until the seaeason’s climax in Abu Dhabi. abi.
All was peace and love in the aftermath as the pair exchanged plaudits.ts.
Where he developed ed a dynamic with Rossberg that was at bestt testy, at worst downright hostile, Hamilton describes the challenge of outsmarting Vettel as a “privilege”. Given that Vettel holds four world titles to his three, it is not as if he can claim superiority,ty, but the warmth between ween them away from the asphalt sphalt appears genuine.
“Lewis won fair and d square,” Vettel acknowledged. “I can’t take anything away from him.” im.”
The soundtrack of this Spanish Grand Prix was dominatedated by Hamilton’s huffing and puffingffing over the intercom. Vettel’s pass s off the start line had forced the Briton ton into maximum attack mode throughout, and at several points he had to ask Pete Bonnington, his race engineer, to stop bothering him.
“Keep pushing, Lewis,” Bonnington urged, patiently but redundantly. Hamilton, flustered and out of breath, was pushing as hard as he was capable.
The level of threat from Ferrari has brought out another dimension in Mercedes, who are compelled to be tougher, cleverer and more adaptable than at any stage of their 3½-year supremacy in the sport. While there was dismay at Valtteri Bottas retiring with an engine failure, the combination of factors that propelled Hamilton to glory, from cute strategy calls to lightningquick pit stops, showed that they will not be relinquishing their crown easily.
“It was an epic grand prix,” team principal Toto Wolff reflected. “Racing simply doesn’t go more wheel-to-wheel.”
Perhaps so, but there must be concern at the size of the gap that Mercedes and Ferrari have opened up on their pursuers. Vettel crossed the line 76 seconds clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in third as the Australian spent his Sunday on a solitary cruise through the Catalonian countryside. Force India merited an honourable me mention as Sergio Pé Pérez and Esteb ban Ocon took fourth and fifth, but they a are miles behind the top t two.
The disparit disparities are becoming similarly s stark within the teams. Botta Bottas is a big talent, but he was c comfortably outperformed b by Hamilton all weekend, wh while Vettel’s brilliance – he h has finished no worse than s second in 2017 – leaves Kimi Raikkonen in the shade at Ferrari. Raikkone Raikkonen came to grief on the first lap after a tangle with M Max Verstappen, but won th the PR stakes by stopping fo for pictures with a young bo boy distraught at his idol’s ea early demise. Bottas c contributed to Hamilton’s v victory by holding up Vette Vettel for more than two seconds, b but the quadruple champion gained his revenge with a mo move for the ages. Dicing from one s side of the track to the other, he be befuddled Bottas with a manoeuvre that brought Ferrari staff to their feet in the team garage.
Gone are the day days when Vettel’s driving genius was doubted. At 29, he is at the height o of his powers for this slug-fest with H Hamilton, three years his senior. We might only be a quarter of the wa way through this campaign, but the central prizefight between two ofo F1’s most complex and obdurate characters feels like the only show i in town.