RACE REPORT
He emerged almost alongside the Mercedes
man and the pair banged wheels in Turn One. Vettel
emerged in the lead but Hamilton had the quicker
tyres and pressed for a way past. Vettel made his car
as wide as possible and a tit-for-tat battle ensued.
Behind them Bottas’ race came to an end on
lap 39 when his power unit failed on the run through
Turn 3. The Finn had been forced to revert to an
older engine on Friday night after a water leak was
detected on his new unit.
At the front Hamilton was still putting pressure
on Vettel and eventually, on lap 44, it told. The Briton
got a good run out of the final corner and passed the
German under DRS into Turn One.
Within a few laps though Hamilton was on the
radio complaining that the rear of his set of soft
tyres were already overheating. With Vettel on the
more durable mediums, the race was not yet.As the
laps wound down, it became clear it was a case of
whether either of the top two would blink. With lap
times similar, would Vettel, who had almost a minute
in hand over Ricciardo, attempt a three-stop and
take on soft tyres for a late attack on Hamilton as
his soft tyres faded? If he pitted would Mercedes
respond?
The answer came on lap 58 when Hamilton was
told the gap was sufficient to prevent Vettel from
trying a strategic gamble and that he should nurse
his Mercedes to the flag.
And that was how it remained until the flag. As
the front pair threaded their way through traffic the
gap widened to o