Despite having the drive of his life on Sunday, Lewis Hamilton only managed to cross the line in sixth after a race filled with bad luck.
Hamilton was the only front-runner that did two pit-stops at the Albert Park circuit, Melbourne, despite his team-mate managing to do 50-plus laps on one set of tyres.
Lewis was called into the pits at the end of lap 34 for a fresh set of Bridgestones after Mark Webber had come in a lap before and started lighting up the timing screens.
However, this meant that the Brit lost track position, and despite just having spent the last 5 laps on Robert Kubica’s gearbox, the team felt the track position was worth giving up for the sake of some fresh, and ultimately quicker, rubber.
Lewis, however, had other ideas and felt that the stop was un-warranted and on lap 47, he radioed his feelings back to the garage asking, “Whose call was it to bring me in? Freaking terrible idea,” clearly feeling that his team had let him down.
As if his race could have got any worse, just two laps from the end and after finally challenging Fernando Alonso, who was on worn tyres, Lewis found that Mark Webber in the position behind him was a little too close and the Aussie ended up spinning the McLaren off the track taking the Red Bull with him – the pair recovered with Hamilton managing sixth and Webber coming ninth.
The 25-year old Brit told the BBC after the race, “It was one of the drives of my life, Unfortunately due to strategy I was put further back and then taken out by Webber. I drove my heart out and I deserve better.
“I was running third and my tyres were fine and I was pulled in for a second stop. I don’t know why.
“The worst bit was being taken out by Mark. That wasn’t cool. We could have had a 1-2 today.”
Mark Webber said, “I’ve apologised to Lewis. I wasn’t happy with sixth and wanted a podium.”
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