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Tension between Verstappen and Hamilton: Not fast enough

2021-03-28T20:04:24.683Z


Who can beat Mercedes? For years the answer in Formula 1 was: nobody. Now Max Verstappen has the fastest car - and again does not win. A special rule helped Lewis Hamilton.


Enlarge image

Lewis Hamilton celebrates the 96th victory of his career

Photo: 

Mark Thompson / Getty Images

Decision in lap 53:

Formula 1 has been groaning over the dominance of Mercedes for years.

This season seemed to be different.

Max Verstappen and Red Bull provide the fastest car at the start of the season.

The Dutchman dominated qualifying and had a great chance of victory three laps before the finish line - after a complicated race.

Verstappen pulled himself up to world champion Lewis Hamilton with better tires, drove past and landed at turn four with excessive speed next to the so-called track limits.

At this point, this can only happen if the driver does not gain any advantage.

Red Bull instructed Verstappen to let Hamilton pass again.

The victory was gone, instead Hamilton triumphed again.

The result:

Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix at the start of the 2021 season ahead of Verstappen and his teammate Valtteri Bottas.

This is how it went at the top:

In practice and in qualifying, Verstappen had by far the fastest car.

But in the race it was no longer so clear.

The 23-year-old complained to the pit radio about problems with the rear axle and was possibly not able to break away from Hamilton as a result.

The Briton got new tires early on and overtook Verstappen in this way.

When the second tire change took place, Hamilton was earlier in the pits, Verstappen followed on lap 40 and, with fresh tires, had 16 laps to catch up.

This succeeded, but the regulation with the route limitation cost Verstappen the victory.

"It's hard to lose a race like this," said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner on Sky TV.

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Max Verstappen (r.) Starts to overhaul Lewis Hamilton

Photo: 

HAMAD I MOHAMMED / REUTERS

This is how the starting phase went:

It took five laps before the field was able to drive at full throttle.

Before the start, there was already a second warm-up lap because Sergio Pérez's engine stalled and the second Red Bull driver had to start from the pit lane.

On the first lap, Nikita Masepin (Haas) spun off the track - not for the first time this weekend.

When the following safety car was allowed back in, Pierre Gasly destroyed the front wing on the rear of a McLaren - which resulted in a virtual safety car phase.

"I can't go any faster":

Halfway through the race, Hamilton complained of a lack of speed.

This is unusual for Mercedes, the team has been the ultimate in terms of speed since the introduction of the hybrid engines in 2014.

“It was almost in crisis,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff after the race, an insight into the mood of his racing team in the days before.

Hamilton was called to the pits immediately after his call for help, too early for his liking.

But then it was time for the best tire expert in Formula 1. 27 laps on hard tires, that is a difficult task - Hamilton solved it in the style of a world champion and in the end was also lucky that Verstappen exceeded the track limits.

"It was one of my toughest races," said Hamilton.

Enlarge image

It smokes, it steams - Sebastian Vettel breaks the front wing

Photo: Kamran Jebreili / dpa

Bottas remains Bottas:

As euphoric as Hamilton was after his 96th career victory, his team-mate Valtteri Bottas looked upset after the race.

The Finn was never able to keep up with Verstappen or Hamilton.

When his team could not loosen the right front wheel during the second tire change, Bottas had to stand still for almost eleven seconds - an eternity in Formula 1. It could be Bottas' last season at Mercedes.

It's starting again:

Sebastian Vettel was hoping for a complete restart with his new Aston Martin racing team.

But this race in Bahrain should have reminded Vettel of his screwed-up end at Ferrari.

After his penalty transfer to the end of the starting field, the German relied on a one-stop strategy.

This brought him to seventh place in the meantime, but in the end he clearly missed the points as 15th.

In addition, Vettel caused an accident with Esteban Ocon (Alpine) due to braking and received the second penalty of the weekend.

It can only get better.

Or maybe not?

MSC is back:

The name electrifies many Formula 1 fans in Germany and in other countries.

Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, made his debut in the premier class of motorsport in Bahrain.

30 years after his father's first race.

But the Schumacher fans will have to be very patient, as the Bahrain Grand Prix showed.

His racing team Haas has proven to have the worst car in the field.

Mick Schumacher, who, like his father, appears on the results lists with the abbreviation MSC, drove a lonely race far behind the rest of the field after a spin in the initial phase.

He was 16th and last.

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-03-28

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