Lewis Hamilton settles for 2nd place
Happy second place, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes take advantage of the misfortunes of the Ferrari drivers to extend their lead in the driver and constructor championships. Valtteri Bottas, never in rhythm throughout the weekend, finishes his race in an anonymous 5th place.
With an unexpected pole position secured on Saturday and his closest rival relegated to the back of the grid, Lewis Hamilton could only be the big beneficiary of this weekend.
Powerless in the face of Max Verstappen’s speed in his Red Bull and surely disappointed to see Sebastian Vettel finish so high, the Briton does not consider himself unhappy with his second place: « It was a much better weekend than we had anticipated after our Friday, given the issues we had with the car, it’s a good result. But we still have a lot of work to do with the car; some corners really amplified the problems we have. These next races will be crucial regarding the flaws we need to eliminate with the car. »
His timid start to the race can partly be explained by a mechanical issue encountered on his Mercedes: “I had problems with the flow at the beginning of the race, so I had difficulties with the battery. Valtteri seemed to struggle much more; I was able to get a bit more out of it. Naturally, I wanted to win the race, winning races is always the goal. So even being second is not that satisfying. Today, we aimed to win the world championship, and every point counts,” explains Hamilton, focused on his main championship objective.
Indeed, Valtteri Bottas struggled much more during the race with a car visibly less competitive than his teammate’s: “Today, it was difficult. I tried everything I could, I gave it my all, but I had an obvious lack of pace,” the Finnish driver stated dejectedly after the race.
The race of driver number 77 was nothing but a long ordeal: In the first part of the race, I had a lot of understeer which impacted the balance. The main problem of my race was managing the tire temperature. If I attacked, the tire would start overheating and I would slide even more, so I had to manage all that and that’s why I was so slow.
A mixed feeling at Mercedes, well summarized by their Sporting Director, Toto Wolff: « Lewis did a fantastic job today to score the points for second place while Valtteri, just like the rest of the weekend, struggled to match this pace and brought the car home in fifth position. We know the gap does not reflect his true performance level, and it will be a priority for us to put two equally competitive cars on the track next weekend at Suzuka. »
IN PICTURES: Super snaps galore from a #MalaysiaGP thriller 📸📸📸
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— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) 1 octobre 2017
