Mercedes Really Enjoyed The Dramatic End To The Bahrain Grand Prix
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Lewis Hamilton secured a surprise top three finish at the opening race of the Grand Prix season, thanks to Red Bull's problems, and Mercedes were loving it.
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Going into the first weekend of the Formula One season, Mercedes are almost always favourites for both the drivers and constructors championships, but not this year.
With the new regulations Toto Wolff admitted that his team were way behind rivals Red Bull, who he claimed were in a 'league of their own.'
However that wasn't the case on Sunday, as Charles Leclerc, in the Ferrari, managed to keep Red Bull's Max Verstappen at arm's length throughout the race and looked on course to win quite easily.
VERSTAPPEN RETIRES!!
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 20, 2022
IT'S A FERRARI ONE, TWO!
📺 Sky Sports F1
📲 https://t.co/P6gVPNvYwH
#️⃣ #BahrainGP 🇧🇭 pic.twitter.com/a5IqATRI7W
The moment Sergio Perez spun to gift Lewis Hamilton a podium position! 😱
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 20, 2022
The Bahrain Grand Prix was a BLOCKBUSTER! 🍿
📺 Sky Sports F1
📲 https://t.co/me3osUi2Io
#️⃣ #BahrainGP 🇧🇭 pic.twitter.com/00ANvIkAy7
With 11 laps to go however, Pierre Gasly had issues and had to go off on the side of the course, leading to the safety car coming out and bunching the pack back together, in scenes reminiscent to the end of last season.
However, Verstappen had been complaining about an issue with his car and when the safety car came in, the world champion's problems only got worse.
He started going backwards on track as Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Hamilton and George Russell soon went past him and the team had to retire his car.
With just two laps to go his teammate, Perez, started having similar issues and right at the start of the final lap they caught up with him, causing him to spin and earning Hamilton an unexpected podium, and it's fair to say his team were loving it!
You love to see it.
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 20, 2022
Whilst we can only say that Mercedes were happy that their team secured a podium place they never would have imagined getting, cynics might suggest there was more to it.
The bad fortune of the Red Bulls would no doubt have added to the good mood of fans of Hamilton and his team, especially after what happened at the end of the season.
Gotcha pic.twitter.com/AnCxhpsFPb
— PeriBRASIL (@PeriBRASIL1969) March 20, 2022
I hope DTS is recording Karen Horner right now pic.twitter.com/toDutlNpFa
— Phil_er_up ⭐️⭐️ (@phil_762) March 20, 2022
yeah admin pic.twitter.com/GL0dcby3S1
— Nathália (@nath20cinco) March 20, 2022
— giuseppe.caldarola#TeamLH (@gcMC4E) March 20, 2022
— Explaining Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team (@explainingf1) March 20, 2022
— bianca 🪩 ⁴⁴ ˣ ⁶³ (@biazzarro) March 20, 2022
The racing God's have us what the FIA wouldn't!!!! #karma pic.twitter.com/jy5vDntnSr
— Kirsten Roberts (@kirsten72576307) March 20, 2022
After the race, a very humble Hamilton congratulated Leclerc and Sainz for Ferrari's first 1-2 finish since 2019, and said he was grateful for the points, "Firstly, a big, big congratulations to Ferrari, so happy to see them do well again, that's such a historic, epic team," the seven times drivers' world champion said.
"It's great to see Carlos and Charles up there as well, so congratulations to them.
"It was such a difficult race, we struggled throughout practice. This is really the best result we could have gotten.
"Of course, it's unfortunate for the other two drivers but we did the best we could and I'm grateful for these points."
Hamilton, Russell, Wolff and the whole team will be hoping they don't need to rely on others' bad luck next week in the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, but it's likely that improvements will take some time.
Featured Image Credit: PA/Sky Sports
Topics: Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Mercedes