The start of the Canadian GP weekend cannot be any better for Hamilton. In the first and second free practice sessions, Lewis topped all drivers showing hope that potentially, he will get his first win of the season. But after the third free practice, we saw Vettel lead the pace. Worse for Hamilton fans, Vettel drove superbly and flawlessly during the Qualifying session that gave him pole position. He was the only driver to reach the 1 minute 13 seconds mark. Hamilton qualified second and the revived Alonso in Ferrari got 3rd.
Not too set expectations too high so as not to feel down if Lewis doesn't win (as with every race), I thought at least a podium position will be satisfying already especially with the performance of both Red Bull and Ferrari. And we all know the miscues in the pit stops of McLaren. So it will be hard for Lewis to win this race.
I stayed up late hoping for a good race and possibly a win for Lewis. Race started at 2AM Singapore time. I prepared myself so that I can watch the race. And boy am I glad I did! Regardless who won, in my opinion, it was a very exciting race to watch. And it was even more satisfying for me to see the driver I support win the race in a very convincing way. It is not usual to see any driver, overtaking two world champion drivers in the final laps of the race to take the win!
At the start of the race, Vettel was being... well like Vettel. He quickly created a gap for himself to hold a 3 seconds lead over Hamilton. I thought it will be another one of the boring races where Vettel started from pole, created enough separation, and won the race. And for quite some time, it looked like that would happen. Then I quickly noticed Lewis closing the gap. It seemed the tyre degradation is forcing Vettel not to push so much. On the other hand, Lewis was able to push further. After Vettel's pit stop, obviously Lewis took the lead. But I was happy to see that even after Hamilton's first stop, he was able to jump ahead of Vettel! That is the time I started to think that a win is highly probable.
It became a battle of strategies in the end. McLaren committed to a two stop strategy while Red Bull and Ferrari opting to do a single stop. Over the team radio, we can hear Lewis asking the team what strategy Red Bull and Ferrari are on. They initially said that they believe they are doing the same strategy as they were. So Lewis pitted and came in third after his pit stop. Lewis was surely waiting for the others to do their pit stops but it did not happen. McLaren realized that Red Bull and Ferrari might be pushing to the end with the tyres that they have and urged Lewis to push as much as he can. I thought for sure Lewis would be mad if he lost the race because of their strategy. Note that Lewis was very wary of what the other 2 were planning!
In the end, tyre degradation was too much for Vettel and Alonso. They probably pushed up to the limit of their tyres. Because of this, Lewis was able to easily overtake both drivers to lead the race until the checkered flag. This gave Lewis his first win of the season and continues to have a strange pattern of results he had in Montreal where he either won or retired from the race. To add insult to injury, Alonso lost 3 more places finishing 5th while Vettel finished 4th. That gave Lewis the lead for the drivers' championship by 2 points with 88 points over Alonso's 86 and Vettel's 85 points.
With 1 more week to go, I cannot wait for the European Grand Prix. Hoping to see Lewis win again!
No comments:
Post a Comment