Lewis Hamilton's beautiful moment with shattered rival
Lewis Hamilton triumphed at the Bahrain GP after mechanical problems scuttled Ferrari’s hopes, but it’s what the British world champion did afterwards which has won him the most praised.
Hamilton had been chasing Charles LeClerc for most of the weekend, with the Monaco-born young gun starting his Ferrari from pole and leading almost all of the race.
Disaster struck on lap 46 though, with LeClerc radioing back to Ferrari to report engine trouble.
LeClerc would miss out on his maiden F1 win due to the mechanical problems, with the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas enjoying a 1-2 finish.
The 21-year-old LeClerc had to settle for third place.
Hamilton made a bee-line for LeClerc after the race, clearly looking to console the 21-year-old rising star.
“You got a long, long career ahead of you, dude,” he said.
“I know it sucks right now.”
Hamilton was effusive in his praise for the young Ferrari driver, who made his F1 debut in 2018 for Alfa Romeo Sauber.
The move that put @LewisHamilton in a winning position 🔀
And the wave that acknowledged Charles Leclerc's amazing effort 👋#BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #F1 pic.twitter.com/2jDC3jFNI4
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 31, 2019
💬 @LewisHamilton: “I had to go and see @Charles_Leclerc because he did such a great job. I’m sure it was a devastating result for him because he’d done the job to win. He’s got lots more wins coming in the future.’ #DrivenByEachOther 🤝 pic.twitter.com/Fl0FGqwI7B
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) March 31, 2019
“Today was a really, really hard job and the team were incredible. It was a devastating race for Charles,” he said.
“We were lucky today. I gave it everything in the race. (Leclerc) has a lot of race wins coming in the future.”
Ricciardo’s Renault on the fritz
Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo’s torrid start to his tenure with Renault continued in Bahrain, with electrical problems costing him a top 10 finish.
Ricciardo actually led the race at the halfway stage as the he was the last driver on track who hadn’t pitted.
But he retired with just a few laps remaining, reporting that his car had switched off completely as he approached the first corner.
After stopping on the entry of Turn 2 with “power unit issues”, his car’s energy recovery system alert light turned red, signifying the car was “electrically unsafe”.
Ricciardo was told by the team to shut down the engine and the electrical system and “to jump from the car”.
Teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who was also running in the top 10, was forced to retire one lap before Ricciardo, reporting a similar electrical fault.
