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Lewis Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas came back with a vengeance at the Russian Grand Prix with a one-two win as Ferrari flames out.
Hamilton extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship after Sebastian Vettel was forced to retire. Ferrari team’s radio squabbles didn’t help either. Also, Vettel had to stop due to a mechanical issue almost immediately after Leclerc had been switched ahead of the German again after pitting.
This halt had put Hamilton and Bottas in control. Bottas kept Leclerc behind him to ensure Mercedes claimed the top two podium spots.
“This win feels like it has been a long time coming and it was just an incredible job from the whole team: never giving up, pushing forward, always trying to be innovative,” said Hamilton. “It’s incredibly inspiring to be part of that and amazing to have this result today considering how quick the Ferraris were in that opening stint. It was a really hard task to keep up with them, especially on the offset tyre, but we kept pushing and the car felt really good today. We thought that their soft tyres would drop off during that opening stint, but they had such good pace that I was struggling to keep up with them – and that’s probably a little warning for us, because it looked like they got their calculations right in that regard. I managed to stay within shooting distance, though, and started closing down the gap as their tyres started to drop.
“Charles pitted, then I started catching Seb, and we were in a good position to offset and go long – even had the safety car not come out, it would have been a really good race. Then everything fell our way, and after that it was a question of building the gap, saving the tyres but also getting to the finish as smoothly as possible. Looking ahead, of course the races are counting down but we are just trying to take things one race at a time, put one foot in front of the other and not stumble. When you have a battle like this, you’re working flat out, turning over every stone and questioning every little thing you can do better. We love that challenge and I’m really excited for the next races.”
Hamilton has now claimed his 82nd win in Formula One, his ninth of the 2019 season and fourth at the Russian Grand Prix. He also holds a 73-point lead in the drivers’ standings over Bottas.
Meanwhile, Bottas had come in second after starting on the grid in fourth place. This victory also marks the 143rd race led for Hamilton, breaking the record for most laps led.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (571 points) leads Ferrari (409 points) by 162 points in the Constructors’ Championship.
Toto Wolff, Mercedes-AMG team CEO, said: “We managed to take a one-two finish even though we didn’t have the quickest package and that is a very special feeling. Both of our drivers did a fantastic job: Lewis was relentless, keeping the pressure on and holding onto the Ferraris in the opening stint, then able to manage things well after the stop. As for Valtteri, we saw two years ago that he knows his way around this track with a Ferrari breathing down his neck, and he didn’t put a foot wrong this afternoon even with huge pressure from Leclerc. But even in the joy of this win, we must not lose sight of the fact that we didn’t have the best package here this weekend. We have some updates to come in Suzuka, but most of all we need to put our heads together over the coming days and understand how to maximise our package in Japan, so that we extract every bit of potential from it and come back stronger.
