Hamilton indeed kept his promise, despite the stakes
The noble gesture of the Mercedes driver at the finish line is causing a stir in the passionate world of Formula 1. But what does the main person involved think about it?
This is the powerful image of the eleventh round. In the final turn of the last lap this Sunday, the Mercedes marked with number 44 was slowing down outside the racing line. Running out of fuel, a weakness in the hybrid engine, or one of its components? Not at all! A last-minute payback orchestrated by Lewis Hamilton.
The justification for such an action
In a frenetic title race against a revitalized opponent, the triple world champion still kept his word. That was to let Valtteri Bottas pass again after the failure of his plan, which was to at least overtake one of the two Ferraris positioned ahead. Definitively, the former McLaren driver is leaving his mark in the pursuit of a new title. Never mind if three points have just slipped away. The essential is certainly elsewhere…
« It was a difficult decision to make for the championship. I did this more with my heart than with my head. But I am a man of my word. I had told my engineer that if I couldn’t overtake (Kimi Räikkönen in this case), then I would let (Bottas) pass in front again. »
While expanding on his comments, a question arises: did he really have a choice? It’s up to you to judge:
« My mind is clear, every point counts, every race is all or nothing. But here, it was the best thing to do. I said at the start of the championship that I wanted to win in the fairest way possible. I have team spirit: I am just a part of it and we all work together like we never have before! »
That being said, the end-of-race circumstances represented a trap, narrowly avoided, in the person of Max Verstappen, on his teammate’s heels after his penalty.
« It was still hard to slow down by seven seconds: I was nervous about losing a place to Verstappen. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case! For some reason, I was in the fastest car. It was easier for Valtteri to let me pass because I was two seconds behind him! »
Reflecting on the race in general, Lewis Hamilton was surprised by the false pace maintained by the leading cars.
« Losing my radio wasn’t ideal, even though I found it at the end of the race.
I don’t know why the Ferraris were so slow! I thought they were slowing down to manage their tires until the end of the race. As for me, I had the pace but was stuck behind Valtteri. Because of my radio, I couldn’t tell my team that I had the speed to overtake him. I don’t even know how many laps I stayed behind, while my tires were struggling!
« Once that was done, I did everything I could. But while attacking, I ran over some rubber left outside the racing line. My tires collapsed afterwards. »
Often very spiritual, his Sunday concludes in these terms. For the main person concerned, destiny will play in his favor during the second part of the season.
« I think that if you do good things in life, then you are rewarded in return. »
A man of his word… @LewisHamilton
👏👏👏 #HungarianGP @F1 https://t.co/SSSmbsUnSH
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) 30 juillet 2017
The preserved spirit of Mercedes, for the greatest joy of Bottas
On the pit wall side, the tension was also at its peak. Toto Wolff simply referred to this decision as the most difficult to make in the past five seasons!
The team principal of the team is very clear about this: We can lose a championship because of these three points.
But we keep the spirit that has driven us since our last three titles. It will make us win even more races!
For his part, Valtteri Bottas -reservedly- wanted to thank his partner for this reciprocal assistance.
« I didn’t think a teammate would do that while he himself is fighting for the podium! So it was very sporting and very nice on the part of the team and Lewis. »
« We were having trouble with our radio communications; I don’t know what the problem was. In any case, I was trying to get closer to Kimi in order to attack him. There was no opportunity. It’s a shame, we had a very good pace at the end of the race. But with our starting positions, we couldn’t get any better. »
The team had promised me that we would make the exchange at the end of the race. The team kept their word, which honors me. But unfortunately, it was mostly a race where we limited the damage.
Thus, the Mercedes team found a nice way to counter the popularity of Ferrari’s second double of the season. But mathematically, Mercedes is losing ground. Ferrari has closed the gap precisely to 39 points after this Hungarian Grand Prix. It will be interesting to follow the evolution of the Hamilton-Bottas relationship. There’s no doubt that the memory of the Hungaroring finish will resurface at some point during the conclusion of this 2017 season. “We saw our ethos played out for everyone to see. We stick to our principles and our word” – Toto Wolff #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 @F1 pic.twitter.com/nomfw15V6s — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) 30 July 2017
