Lewis Hamilton admitted he was lucky to win the Bahrain Grand Prix after Charles Leclerc suffered a technical problem while leading.
The Ferrari driver had a comfortable lead over Hamilton when he suffered a suspected MGU-H fault in the closing stages of the race. Hamilton caught the Ferrari and passed Leclerc with 10 laps to go. He admitted it felt “weird” to pass the ailing Ferrari driver.“Ultimately you want to pass someone because you’re quicker than them and through a fight,” said Hamilton. “I went past Charles down on the back straight I think, and I raised my hand to him because there was nothing I could do. I obviously didn’t have any problems so it definitely feels weird.
“Honestly you can’t believe your luck in those scenarios. But what can you do? You can’t deny yourself, you just have to keep doing what you’re doing and pushing ahead. I’ve been in positions like that, I’ve been in the lead many times when the car has stopped. I know how it feels.”
Hamilton said Leclerc shuld focus on the positive aspects of his performance in Bahrain, including how he firmly overshadowed his multiple world champion team mate Sebastian Vettel.
“It’s always good to look at the glass half-full because today’s got some great points even though they had that problem,” said Hamilton.
“He was an outlier all weekend. Even to his team mate he was so much faster than his team mate all weekend. He’s got so many positives to take from it and we have a lot of work to do to try and keep up with him.”
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dan
31st March 2019, 19:38
Well Lewis it would of been Vettel the lucky guy if you did not make the move. Thank god we had Leclerc in this race people would of been praising Vettel of how well he is doing keeping a faster car behind. F1 is boring Merc are still fastest bla bla bla…
Im glad now as Hamilton would have beaten Vettel if he had 2 sets of softs he went on ss and for that reason we got to see Vettel crumble again. Also a huge gap to Bottas who i do not think had damage and 2 overtakes against very good cars, great drive.
erikje
31st March 2019, 19:50
Examining Bottas car will show floor damage..
grat
31st March 2019, 21:42
Of course. Otherwise, your obsessive behavior would be shown to have no merit.
… actually, apparently he suffered from a plastic bag on the front wing (although I never saw it), and then turned the engine down, much as Hamilton did in Australia.
Does that soothe your ego sufficiently?
Martin
31st March 2019, 22:45
There was some debris (looked like bags) floating around between the start line and turn 1 at lights out. The cars ran over them on lap one so wouldn’t surprise me if it were that.
dan
31st March 2019, 19:40
Max was doing wonders being so close to Bottas in that car, just glad we finally know ho fast Ferrari has been with some other than Vettel and Raikonnen’s hands
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
31st March 2019, 19:48
Red bull are vertually always far better at race pace than 1 lap pace. I think it was more that Bottas just was inconsistent this race. He didn’t seem to like the wind much :D
Ziomal
31st March 2019, 20:00
Just how many times did Lewis retire from lead due to mechanical failure ?
1. 2012 Singapore (Gearbox)
2. 2012 Abu Dhabi (Fuel Pressure)
3. 2016 Malaysia (Engine)
here is the list of his retirements:
n Year Grand Prix Grid N° Chassis Engine Tyre Lap Retirement
26 2018 Austria 2 44 Mercedes F1 W09 Mercedes V6 t h Pirelli 62 Fuel pressure
25 2016 Malaysia 1 44 Mercedes F1 W07 Mercedes V6 t h Pirelli 40 Engine
24 2016 Spain 1 44 Mercedes F1 W07 Mercedes V6 t h Pirelli 0 Collision
23 2015 Singapore 5 44 Mercedes F1 W06 Mercedes V6 t h Pirelli 32 Throttle
22 2014 Belgium 2 44 Mercedes F1 W05 Mercedes V6 t h Pirelli 38 Handling
21 2014 Canada 2 44 Mercedes F1 W05 Mercedes V6 t h Pirelli 46 Brakes
20 2014 Australia 1 44 Mercedes F1 W05 Mercedes V6 t h Pirelli 2 Engine
19 2013 Japan 3 10 Mercedes F1 W04 Mercedes V8 Pirelli 7 Undertray
18 2012 Brazil 1 4 McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes V8 Pirelli 54 Collision
17 2012 Abu Dhabi 1 4 McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes V8 Pirelli 19 Fuel pressure
16 2012 Singapore 1 4 McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes V8 Pirelli 22 Gearbox
15 2012 Belgium 7 4 McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes V8 Pirelli 0 Pile-up
14 2012 Germany 7 4 McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes V8 Pirelli 56 Handling
13 2012 Europe 2 4 McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes V8 Pirelli 55 Collision
12 2011 Brazil 4 3 McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes V8 Pirelli 46 Gearbox
11 2011 Belgium 2 3 McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes V8 Pirelli 12 Accident
10 2011 Canada 5 3 McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes V8 Pirelli 7 Collision
9 2010 Singapore 3 2 McLaren MP4-25 Mercedes V8 Bridgestone 35 Collision
8 2010 Italy. 5 2 McLaren MP4-25 Mercedes V8 Bridgestone 0 Collision
7 2010 Hungary 5 2 McLaren MP4-25 Mercedes V8 Bridgestone 23 Transmission
6 2010 Spain 3 2 McLaren MP4-25 Mercedes V8 Bridgestone 64 Puncture
5 2009 Abu Dhabi 1 1 McLaren MP4-24 Mercedes V8 Bridgestone 20 Brakes
4 2009 Italy 1 1 McLaren MP4-24 Mercedes V8 Bridgestone 52 Accident
3 2009 Belgium 12 1 McLaren MP4-24 Mercedes V8 Bridgestone 0 Pile-up
2 2008 Canada 1 22 McLaren MP4-23 Mercedes V8 Bridgestone 19 Collision
1 2007 China 1 2 McLaren MP4-22 Mercedes V8 Bridgestone 30 Handling
any more than those 3 ?
Gabriel (@naylamp)
31st March 2019, 20:29
wow. +1 for the comprehensive data.
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
31st March 2019, 21:40
Good info – but I’m pretty sure he was 2nd (behind Rosberg) in his 2016 Spain DNF collision.
Andrews02
1st April 2019, 0:48
The 2009 Abu Dhabi GP was a fourth one. He was leading comfortably when his brakes failed if I recall correctly.
And while not technically from the lead, in Aus 2014 he had the problem right from the start and he was on pole. But who knows what would’ve happened there.
So 4/5 “problems” in the lead overall so not thaaat many, but still a few.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
1st April 2019, 2:57
He wasn’t leading in Abu Dhabi.
Andrews02
1st April 2019, 10:59
Oh yeah you’re right. My mistake, should’ve actually checked first instead of going off a disappointing memory.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
31st March 2019, 20:20
I noticed this on Hamilton’s onboard, and that was a very sportsmanlike sign of commiseration.
mystic one (@mysticus)
31st March 2019, 21:29
Yup, he also commented on his radio too…
mystic one (@mysticus)
31st March 2019, 21:28
There is an interesting pattern to Vettel’s track position and his spins
1) Monza, Ham outside, Vet inside, Vettel spins
2) Japan, Max outside, Vet inside, vettel spins
3) USA, Ric outside, Vet inside, vettel spins
4) Bahrain, Ham outside, Vettel inside, vettel spins
Is this luck ? or is this someone else’s fault anyone other than Vettel’s?
RP (@slotopen)
31st March 2019, 22:02
@mysticus
I don’t know about the pattern or why, but I don’t feel we are watching the same Vettel as in years past. I don’t think it was just the Red Bull was dominate (unless it was the traction control). Maybe something has changed, maybe he hasn’t got it anymore.
dan
31st March 2019, 22:37
@slotopen Easy answer, Webber or Kimi is not in the other car.
mystic one (@mysticus)
31st March 2019, 22:51
@slotopen i m pretty sure it was the low flying pelican that is keep distracting vettel?
MaddMe (@)
1st April 2019, 0:16
The fault at Bahrain was purely Vettel! Hamilton wasn’t close to touching him…
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
31st March 2019, 23:10
Major props to how Hamilton handled the whole situation. I’m no fan of the guy in general, but man that was very classy of him.
I thought it was a bit distasteful how his engineer congratulated Lewis on the win without even mentioning Leclerc’s misfortunes, but Hamilton dismissed all else immediately and gave Charles the props he was due.
Chapeau Lewis!
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
1st April 2019, 1:24
I’m a Hamilton fan, but even I have to comment on his making sure he plays the mind games with Vettel, making sure he points out a couple of times how Leclerc owned Vettel over the race weekend😜😄
Matthijs (@matthijs)
1st April 2019, 6:33
Hamilton handled the situation beautifully. First he gave credits and his sympathy to Leclerc and then he rightfully celebrated the victory with his team.
Glennb
1st April 2019, 7:36
And kicked Seb in the nuts😁