Lewis Hamilton was handed a five-second penalty for deliberately slowing down Daniel Ricciardo, one of several controversial moments in a Bahrain Grand Prix won by Sebastian Vettel – by 6.6sec.
Mercedes did everything they could to help Hamilton, even asking their other driver Valtteri Bottas to let their star man through. Bottas, who started on pole, followed the instruction obligingly.
Whether that was in the interests of free racing – as Mercedes have always claimed to be – is questionable.
Regardless, Vettel now takes a seven-point lead into the next round in Russia as Hamilton finished second, a place ahead of Bottas.
It could not be said that Vettel did not deserve it. He and Ferrari were perfect in the desert night. Starting third, the German zipped straight up round the outside of the first corner to pass Hamilton. First bit of the job done.
He came in with just 11 laps of the 57 completed to be reshod. Now the next part of the story fell Ferrari’s way as cars banged and stopped. First, Max Verstappen had brake failure and ended up in the gravel, angrily plucking his gloves off as his impressive night’s work ended prematurely. He was effectively fourth at the time.
Then Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and Williams’s Lance Stroll collided and parked up. It was like an NCP out there when the safety car came out.
It was now that Hamilton boobed, dawdling as he entered the pit lane because he wanted to negate the disadvantage he had by needing to double park as Bottas was first attended to in the pits. He blocked Ricciardo’s Red Bull, attempting not to cede any advantage to him…
MORE: Vettel claims second win as Hamilton pays for time penalty | Daily Mail Online
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