He had closed to seven seconds behind Rosberg and was entertaining thoughts of winning the race when the team told him to back off because his engine was losing water pressure.
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Lewis Hamilton was hampered by technical issues again in Russian Federation, but the f1 champion still managed to finish second behind Nico Rosberg.
Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff says the conspiracy theorists suggesting his outfit favour Nico Rosberg over Lewis Hamilton are “a bunch of lunatics”.
In fourth and fifth places were Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, respectively.
Meanwhile, current world champion Hamilton’s subdued post-race demeanour was a reflection of his title deficit to Rosberg increasing and yet another malfunction calling a halt to a charge which he believed could have resulted in an unlikely victory. “We are looking for a big challenge and ok, what has happened, it is part of the racing story”, said team chief Maurizio Arrivabene. If some of the guys read some of those comments they might take it personally and this is why I want to be very clear.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel let rip with a blast of swear words after two first lap collisions with Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat dumped him out of the Russian’s home race on Sunday.
“But we might have to take a small step back and ensure that we are giving the drivers a vehicle with which they can get to the finish line”. They’re feeling the same hurt and emotions you go through because we’re connected in that way and it’s a attractive thing.
“If we screw up, it’s about admitting that it wasn’t the best we could’ve done”.
“There wasn’t a doubt in my mind I could win it”, Hamilton said, according to the BBC. “We did 800km a day in testing and the vehicle was seen as bulletproof”.
“When I was in karting there was one steward, he was just there to make everyone’s weekend a bad weekend. I had a great start and from there was able to control the pace at the front”, said Rosberg.
He is now 43 points behind Rosberg after four races.
Their hero already condemned to starting the Russian Grand Prix from tenth, Lewis Hamilton fans faced an anxious wait overnight to see if the team would need to change his engine and thereby incur an additional penalty.
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“I think it’s a shame because today we had done everything right”. “I am aware there is likely to be one more 10-place penalty because I have one more reprimand to go – and the last one was just ridiculous”.
