After undergoing investigation for a questionable action during the qualifying round at the Qatar Grand Prix, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is heading for the race day on Sunday. At present, the drivers are racing to make it to the second spot since Max Verstappen clinched his third World Championship victory this Saturday which is quite rare, ironically equalling the record of his father-in-law, Nelson Piquet.
As for the British driver at Mercedes, he somehow managed to get hold of the twelfth spot at the sprint shootout with medium tires.
Hence, the sprint race became quite challenging for Hamilton as he had the task to fight off the new standard set by teammate, George Russell who came fourth at the same race. And he did a marvelous job at that. Lewis Hamilton managed to dodge the Singapore Grand Prix winner, Carlos Sainz, and gained the fifth spot in the sprint race.
Lewis knew he had more grip, baited Sainz into going deep and cut back on the inside to take 5th on the final lap.
High IQ racing move from LH 👏
— Mercedes-AMG F1 News (@MercedesNewsUK) October 7, 2023
In the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint, Mercedes made a calculated decision to evenly distribute the tire strategy between their two drivers, and Lewis Hamilton backed this choice. George Russell started on the soft tires, while Hamilton started on the medium tires.
Russell swiftly passed Oscar Piastri to gain the lead early in the race. The 38-year-old driver moved slowly through the pack in the meanwhile and impressively overtook the two Ferrari drivers as well as Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.
Lewis Hamilton describes how he got “stuck behind” cars at Qatar Sprint
Hamilton managed to impress all with his swift moves as he managed to make overtakes seven times during the race. His determination paid off at the end of the day and is a testament to his skill and prowess as a driver. But it came with a lot of struggle. Post the race, Lewis Hamilton explained the idea that went into the tire strategy which played a massive role in landing him the fifth spot.
Lewis Hamilton had the oldest tyres and still managed to make up the most places. pic.twitter.com/Is1tRx2HF0
— Stefanie (@fastpitstop) October 7, 2023
According to the British driver, reported by RacingNews365, “It was a difficult start with the Medium tyre, it just wasn’t firing [up] the same as the Soft tyre. It was actually a really good start and then I got stuck behind these cars, then once we got going and they started having an impact on their tire I was able to start getting past. If I had started on the Soft, I would have gained several places perhaps in the beginning.”
Hamilton acknowledged the fact that if he started off with the softer tires like the rest of the pack, he “would have struggled just like everybody else“.
Nevertheless, the junior driver at the Silver Arrows team managed to outperform Lewis every step of the way and was the true standout. Russell secured third despite Hamilton’s ascent up the hierarchy owing to an early lead and shrewd tire management.