In the very long cycle of world championship victories won by Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes during the hybrid era of Formula 1 – which ended this year thanks to Max Verstappen – the Brackley team had in some cases to resort to teamwork between their drivers to make sure you have a safety margin on direct rivals. The 2018 Russian GP has become the emblem of this modus operandi.
The context – The Russian GP – scheduled at the Sochi circuit – is the 16th of the 2018 season. This race is coming in the wake of the clear success achieved by Lewis Hamilton in Singapore. With that result, the English driver from Mercedes reached +40 in the ranking over Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, who desperately needs to recover at least a few points on the Black Sea. The qualifications, however, as expected, smile at the silver arrows. On pole is Valtteri Bottas – as always very fast on the Russian circuit – ahead of Hamilton and Vettel himself, more than five tenths behind.
The race – The race immediately seems to be without history, despite Vettel managing to get ahead of Hamilton for one lap following the series of pit stops. With a clever overtaking maneuver, however, the # 44 re-establishes the hierarchy and repositions itself in front of its rival. In front of the two antagonists there are Bottas, impregnable on his W09 and ‘virtual’ leader of the race, and Max Verstappen. The Dutchman is in the lead, but only thanks to a strategy that – given his departure from the back of the grid – involves a GP with a single, very delayed stop. In fact, Mercedes is destined for an easy one-two, with Bottas looking forward to the flavor of the first seasonal success in a very difficult year for him up to now.
The team-order – During the 25th lap, however, the Finn almost stops in the middle of the track, letting Hamilton pass in front of him. James Vowles, head of Mercedes strategies, has given the order to reverse the positions. “Get Lewis through turn 13 on this lap “, the message delivered by the track engineer of # 77, which leaves no room for interpretation. Bottas executes, but then is surprised because Hamilton, instead of reaching the lead, stays just in front of him, without even approaching Verstappen – the momentary leader of the race. At this point it is Vowles himself who enters Bottas’ radio conversations, with a message destined to make an ‘era’: “Valtteri, I’m James. We had a risk with Lewis against Vettel. He had a little blistering. I had to do this to make sure we take her home“.
The after – The race ends in that order. Hamilton wins and goes to +50 over Vettel, while Bottas comes second and thus forgoes what would have been the only victory of his 2018. The drawn face of the native of Nastola on the podium says it all about his state of mind. Years later the Finn will admit that he had thought about retiring after that GP. The championship ends in the hands of Hamilton, who is guaranteed the arithmetic victory with two races before the end of the season.
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