RAWEST
A
drained but happy Lewis Hamilton hailed
an “awesome” Sebastian Vettel after
winning a Spanish Grand Prix that the
Briton described as the “rawest” of fights.
The two rivals, with seven world
championships between them, were in a race
of their own at the Circuit de Catalunya as they
lapped all but Red Bull’s third placed Australian
Daniel Ricciardo.
Banging wheels, the one almost forcing
the other off the road and getting hot under the
collar as they fought for the lead, the Mercedes
and Ferrari rivals produced a memorable thriller.
“That’s how racing should be and I loved
it and I wouldn’t change it for the world,”
gushed triple champion Hamilton after chalking
up the 55th win of his career to cut Vettel’s
championship lead to six points.
“I probably lost two kilos in that race,”
added the Mercedes driver, who revealed he
had no water bottle in his car in order to save
weight.
“It’s draining, the car is fast, to keep up
with him… he drove fantastically well and it’s a
real privilege to race against such an awesome
driver.”
Hamilton had secured pole position on
Saturday but wheel spin left him playing catch
up as Vettel seized the lead from the start.
What followed was a strategic tussle, with
different tyre strategies that resulted in Hamilton
entering his final stint on the quicker soft tyres
and Vettel, still leading, on the harder mediums.
The two went side by side as Vettel came
out of the pits for the last time, the German
holding off the Briton with a bit of strong-arm
tactics.