© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
After holding off Max Verstappen to take the win at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton offered words of advice to the young Dutch driver.
In the final stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton managed to hold off Max Verstappen to take the win, even though the Dutchman had fresher tyres.
“I was just able to hold onto him in that first stint but I had a feeling he was going to go long on his stint,” Hamilton told Ziggo Sport.
“The undercut was so powerful I didn’t want to risk getting undercut and Red Bull are so fast. Verstappen’s obviously on top form, and their car is fantastic. The engine is so strong.
“So to get this result given all those factors, I’m so happy.”
At one point Verstappen managed to overtake Hamilton, but he did so while exceeding track limits, so he had to give his position back or face a penalty. After the race Lewis offered some words of advice to his less experienced rival.
“I don’t think he really needed to attack me then. He had fresher tires, you could be patient.
“I braked nice and late and kept him by the side and then he had to go wide. Verstappen went off track and within the rules that we have, we’re not allowed to take off track.
“When I saw that I was like okay he is gonna have to give it back, but I thought he’s immediately going to get, have another chance to overtake me again.
“I managed to somewhere hold it really long, and I hope those will be valuable points.”
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The Briton describes the battle with Verstappen as “one of his hardest” he’s had “for a while”.
“Yeah that short lock-up when I was just behind another car, he was just outside DRS, and so sliding around quite a lot behind this car, but the pressure was immense.
“He’s a fantastic driver, they have the quicker car, and to keep him behind on fresh tyres also that was one of the hardest that I’ve had for a while. But I’ve got a really bad memory so I’m sure there were others too.
“In the race, it was so hard to keep the car in mindset, consistent, not make mistakes, hold the ground. Ultimately if he hadn’t made the mistake he probably would have won the race. that’s what makes and loses you wins.”
It’s obvious now that Mercedes will face a real challenge from Red Bull for the rest of the season, and Hamilton loves it.
“Yeah I mean we came into this race knowing that we were on the back foot, knowing that it was going to be a tough start but everyone worked incredibly hard to try and at least maximise everything we had, and there was no, everybody just kept their heads down and I’m incredibly grateful to everybody.
“We’ve got such a great fight here. This is not the end for them; they’re going to come back with a vengeance in the next race so we’ve got to work hard. I hope the fans enjoyed it because I enjoyed it.
“Onwards and upwards from here,” concluded Hamilton.
