Ex-F1 pilots praise Hamilton's race win in 'inferior Mercedes'
Mar.30 - Lewis Hamilton proved that he doesn't need the best car to win grands prix.
That is the view of Christijan Albers, a Dutch former Formula 1 driver who admits that "I think we all wanted Max (Verstappen) to win" the Bahrain season opener.
"To be honest, Hamilton ruined that party by himself," he told De Telegraaf.
"He showed that he can make a difference in a slightly inferior car. He was consistent and really strong in the race and single-handedly ended the Verstappen weekend.
"The win is entirely his merit," Albers added.
The former Minardi driver agrees with Hamilton and Mercedes in suspecting that Formula 1 and the FIA deliberately tried to end the reigning champion team's dominance with the 2021 aerodynamic rule tweaks.
"When these new rules were introduced, they knew very well what was going to happen," said Albers.
"At Red Bull they have a different philosophy with regard to the aerodynamics, so they (F1) knew as an organisation that they are helping a team like that.
"In that sense, Red Bull's advantage was put in their lap."
Another former F1 driver, Ralf Schumacher, joined Albers in heaping praise on Hamilton's race performance.
"Lewis was very surprising to me," he told Sky Deutschland.
"Although Max was faster, it was Lewis' clever strategy and driving skills that made the difference in the end - in addition to the momentous decision by the FIA," Schumacher added, referring to the contentious 'track limits' issue regarding Verstappen's disallowed overtake.
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Hamilton was helped by allowing him to abuse the track limits for so many laps gaining some time each lap. Without that he may not have been so close to Max at his first pit stop.
I hope Max and Red Bull go on to win many races this season and take the drivers and constructors championships.
rubbiish, the rules changed during the race AFTER red bull complained. Verstappen went on to blow the overtake like an impatient amateur. At the end of the day if Verstappen wins the wc it will be because he has the better car, remember that one hamilton haters. Looking forward to future Perez drives, great comeback, in the best car of course.
Looking forward to max being beaten by Chico the world doesn’t want a max as champion but Chico we all would like that
For all of the detractors, it was the W12 that won the race; any F1 driver on the grid would have won. All drivers exceeded track limits at T-4 during the race except my hero, Maz. Red Bull needs to stop being passive/aggressive. Chirsrian Horner is such a slard and has found himself caught in his own trap. Ralph you can be better, so reframe from ignorant statements.
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