Ruthless start in Spain puts Hamilton on road to victory
Lewis Hamilton wasn’t going to be kind to his team-mate this time. Hamilton blasted past pole -sitter Valtteri B ottas at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix, kept his nerve when things got tight at the first corner and then raced away to reclaim the overall Formula 1 lead yesterday.
Two weeks ago, five-time and defending champion Hamilton said he was maybe“too friendly” when Bottas stayed in front after a similar grid start for the Mercedes drivers in Azerbaijan.
Hamilton hinted that he wouldn’t make that mistake again in Spain, and he got some help from a poor getaway by Bottas to overtake him in the opening metres en route to winning the race at the Barcelona-catalunya Circuit for a third consecutive year.
The Mercedes pair strengthened their grip on F1 with their record- extending fifth one - two finish in as many races in 2019.
“This is history in the making to have five one-twos ,” Hamilton said after his 76th career win, second only to Michael Schumacher’ s 91. “It is incredible what we are achieving together and I plan on working with this team to help it become the most successful of all time.”
Hamilton added a bonus point for the fastest lap to take a seven-point advantage over Bottas. Max Verstappen was third in his Red Bull, in front of Ferrari pair Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton got the jump on B ottas off the line when Vettel surged forward and made it three abreast going through the first corner. Vettel locked upon the turn and Bot t as, sandwiched in the middle, had to blink to avoid a possible collision as Hamilton sped clear.
Verstappen took advantage of the jousting to slip by Vettel. Verstappen is 46 points adrift of Hamilton in the standings. Vettel fell to fourth at 48 points back.
Bot t as had shown more speed in practice and in qualifying than Hamilton, when he set a scorching track record that was 0.6 seconds faster than Hamilton’ s best effort. But Bottas’ chances for victory were sunk by his poor star t, when his wheels appeared to spin. “It was pretty tight[ at the first curve] but I lost it at the start,” he said. “I felt some strange behaviour with the clutch. I lost it there.”
Hamilton experienced firsthand what an overzealous rivalry between team-mates can lead to when he and former Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg knocked each other out on the first lap at the 2016 Spanish GP.
Three years later Hamilton says that he has matured and that the mild-mannered Bottas is as close as it comes to having an ideal driving partner .“[ Our competition] is respectful and balanced,” he said. “I think we have the best balance of any team.”