[ad_1]
GRAMAt the end of the Lewis Hamilton big show on Sunday in Turkey, something was still shaking. The sign with the British number 44 and the inscription “Champion” wobbled as the old and new Formula 1 world champions braked their Mercedes a bit late, in what was probably the easiest exercise at the Turkish Grand Prix. : the way to the parking lot. after a race in treacherous conditions.
In 58 laps, Hamilton was on a slippery surface, while the competitors turned, in the last groove of his worn tires against Sergio Pérez at Racing Point and Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel: with the tenth victory of the season, he climbed Olympus In Formula 1, he stands as a seven-time world champion now on par with Michael Schumacher.
Silence for a moment in Formula 1, which is often so irascible. Hamilton was still sunk in the cockpit in front of the winner’s shield, still wobbling, and he put his hands on the visor of his helmet. When he finally gave himself up, he encouraged the children: “When I was little, I dreamed of that. That now beats it all. But don’t tell yourself, ‘You can’t do this,’ pursue your dreams, don’t give up. “
Hamilton’s last hundred-minute dream trip was just minutes ago. His course offers answers to the question of why everyone in Formula 1 starts at the same time, but in the end it is mainly the British who wins. “What a way to do it!” Exclaimed the race engineer in awe of this masterpiece, as if it were a mystery to him how the 35-year-old Silver Arrow driver came out of a seemingly desperate position and won by a good 30 seconds. . “When I didn’t pass Vettel for a long time and Albon (at Red Bull / d.Red.) Walked away, I thought, oh my, the race is getting out of hand.” He was not the only one.
Anyone who wants to evaluate Hamilton without being contradicted these days presents the bare numbers: 94 wins, 97 poles. On Sunday, one look at the big party outside Istanbul’s gates was enough to understand the story behind such cold digits. Like on Saturday water on wet, new asphalt, slippery, low temperatures, hard tires, nothing that makes the racing driver jump, rather the fueled sarcasm: “Our objective in the race? Stay on track. “
The mood of nature had turned Formula 1 upside down on Saturday. Lance Stroll on pole position at Racing Point, an outsider. Mercedes won the grid race for the first time this season. Hamilton, the superman of the fastest lap, was sixth. The mix of circumstances, plus the problem of teams with the more powerful engines transferring their power to the track instead of just rolling on wheels, stopped the best. The tires were not hot enough to provide adequate grip. And so Formula 1 slid back and forth on tires because of the rainy weather at first.
Tears in the rain in Turkey: Lewis Hamilton is world champion again.
:
Image: Reuters
Racing cars floated like rally cars, drivers struggling to keep their 1,000-horsepower projectiles under control. No computer would help, good advice at best. On Sunday, instinct, confidence, cunning, patience, experience, the ability to avoid mistakes on the edge of the prison line were decisive. “Well,” said Red Bull sporting director Helmut Marko, “that wasn’t the best day for the youngsters.”
He thought of his drivers. In Max Verstappen, the first World Cup candidate, he drives a faster race car. And his partner Alex Albon. Both could have won. But they both “ran over” their tires and went off the track. “Cold brakes”, worn tires, that was a complaint that others also brought. “Our car was also difficult to drive,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. He didn’t have to refer to Hamilton’s teammates. Finn Valtteri Bottas continued to skid too conspicuously: fourteenth, he rolled over, in the same car as the world championship team.
Is it up to the driver if someone like Hamilton gets faster and faster on a dry track, takes the lead on lap 38 while the other pirouettes at the end of the field? A clear case in Mercedes and Racing Point. Stroll, the pole winner, well ahead of Pérez, was ninth. But a difficult question in the case of Ferrari, for example. Vettel skyrocketed from eleventh to fourth place at the start, his teammate Charles Leclerc fell back to 14, sometimes losing four seconds per lap compared to the four-time world champion.
However, after the first pit stop, the Monegasse started on the drying route tires (intermediate), approached very fast and overtook Vettel. “I should have attacked more with intermediates,” said the German. Too cautious because the tires suffered and had to cool down over and over again hanging from the moisture beyond the ideal line; Or because Vettel wanted to finish without making a mistake after criticizing him?
In the Grand Prix final, he closed the gap with Leclerc, on the last lap he watched closely as the man in front fought bitterly for second place with Pérez, and miscalculated at Turn 12. Schwups overtook Hesse in the latter stages. meters: Third, only 0.3 seconds behind, thanks to the knowledge of the day: the most successful did not allow mistakes in this game of Vabanque. In the parc fermé, Vettel crouched next to Hamilton’s Silver Arrow and congratulated when the champion, who was still sitting in the booth, let his tears dry. “It wasn’t his race,” Vettel said, “but he won it.”
