Lewis Hamilton
SEPANG, Malaysia: Britain’s Lewis Hamilton broke an eight-month win drought and roared into the Formula One title race with a commanding victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday.
Hamilton streaked away from pole position and was never pressured as he led a Mercedes one-two with Nico Rosberg which confirmed the German marque’s dominance in the new Formula One era.
Four-time defending world champion Sebastian Vettel was powerless to catch Rosberg in his Red Bull and he finished third, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso fourth and Nico Hulkenberg fifth for Force India.
The win was sweet for Hamilton, who has not topped the podium since Hungary last July and retired early at the season-opener in Australia, setting back his bid for a second world title.
Rain had badly disrupted qualifying but Malaysia’s notorious downpours were largely absent as Hamilton took the chequered flag 17 seconds ahead of Rosberg.
Afterwards, he paid tribute to the victims of the mysterious MH370 plane disappearance, which cast a shadow over the race and was blamed for poor ticket sales with the Sepang circuit only about half-full.
“Incredible, incredible,” Hamilton said of the win. “I just feel so grateful particularly after such a tragedy three weeks ago. I would like to dedicate it to those people and their families.” After a sombre minute’s silence for the MH370 missing, Hamilton got away smoothly from pole as his team-mate Rosberg squeezed inside Vettel and into second position on the starting straight.
Behind the leaders, McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen clipped Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen’s right rear tyre, leaving him with a flat, and Pastor Maldonado crashed with Jules Bianchi.
Hamilton was streaking away in front and he had a 5.2-second lead by lap nine, with Rosberg nearly four seconds ahead of Vettel in third and Daniel Ricciardo fourth in the second Red Bull.
Williams’ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, who was warned over the radio to stop attacking his team-mate, moved up a place when Magnussen had to come in for a stop-go penalty for his collision with Raikkonen.
Hamilton pitted after lap 15 and rejoined behind Force India’s Hulkenberg, who had yet to make his first stop, and he quickly regained the lead with an eight-second advantage over Rosberg.
Mercedes’ relaxed instructions to Hamilton were “just keep doing what you’re doing” as the former world champion extended to a 10-second lead by halfway and with Rosberg comfortably ahead of Vettel.
As rain started falling on parts of the track, the two leaders were the last to come in for their second pit stops and Hamilton regained with a healthy 12-second lead. — AFP