Hamilton’s surreal setback during the race in Bahrain: “He was with his ass in the air”

Bahrain uncovered the cards of all the teams and some turned out to be very sharp. Let them ask about the Mercedes box. “We lack rhythm and Verstappen is in another galaxy. There are many things to learn,” said Toto Wolff to summarize the first grand prix of the season. While George Russell he had to settle for being fifth after the two Ferraris, Lewis Hamilton everything cost a little more. The seven-time champion was the seventh car to cross the finish line, its worst start since 2014. That year it suffered a knockout in Australia.

The Englishman failed in qualifying and in Sunday’s race he didn’t particularly shine either. To make matters worse, he had to dance with the ugliest girl. He had to drive on the Sakhir track with a broken seat. “I was braking in the first corner and the seat moved, and the right side came off, I felt something creak. I have moved on the seat. “I was going with my ass in the air”, he revealed between laughs that hid his perplexity at what happened. But it wasn’t the only problem she had to deal with.

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“For a moment I was out of battery, So on the straights I was losing speed, I lost a lot compared to the McLarens, I was fixing that for a few laps, and that took me about ten laps, I lost a lot of seconds because of that. There is probably some disappointment within the team. We suffered in the car today, I gave it my all, but there was not much performance compared to many of the rivals,” he added. His pace allowed him to finish seventh after overtaking Piastri thanks to his successful strategy in the pits and Fernando Alonso on the asphalt.

Russell, the other Mercedes, also had no rhythm to stop Sainz or to hold on to his tail. The Spaniard put on a superb performance, overtook Leclerc twice and gave himself a powerful podium. However, the first setback occurred as soon as the traffic light went out. The start, clean in front but rough behind – Hulkneberg took Stroll ahead – allowed Pérez to overtake Sainz who recovered and began the climb whose high point occurred with Charles Leclerc, his teammate. It was lap 11, Sainz opened the DRS and turned all the tension accumulated after Ferrari informed him of the non-renewal into courage.

He hit the Monegasque on the main straight and hit the blow in turn one. Excellent maneuver. Not a single problem, neither from Leclerc nor from the team. Charles has the status, but Carlos has the pace. Ferrari delayed its stop excessively, who knows why. If it was a undercut of Leclerc on Sainz, they achieved it. But the difference in performance between the two was abysmal. The Spaniard ate it again at the end of the stretch. Two laps later he overtook Russell and got sixth to reach the podium, one of those that tastes different. Because of what has happened personally in recent months and because there is only a car from another galaxy in front of us. Let Ferrari take note, his disposal saved their furniture.

Hostilities took place between Mercedes, Leclerc and Mclaren. The name of Aston Martin did not appear there, even though Alonso placed it sixth in the classification. Piastri and Norris passed him without problems and Hamilton did not have excessive difficulties when he reached him either. The car that a year ago was a lion in Bahrain had become a sweet kitten. Aston Martin seems to have resolved its deficit in one lap, but for the moment there is no trace of the car’s Sunday strengths.

Fernando was forced to run in tow, delaying his stops to have better tires in the final stretch, where he overtook his teammate and climbed to ninth place, the reality of the AMR24 today. Stroll was tenth. Three points for the British team on a circuit in which they scored 23 last year. This is how Formula 1 starts. There are 23 races left, enough time for Aston Martin to improve.