Hamilton admits overtaking Leclerc "felt weird"
Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton said it "felt weird" to pass the hobbled Ferrari of Charles Leclerc for an unlikely victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Leclerc looked well on course for a maiden grand prix win as he was managing his gap over Hamilton in the closing stages of the race, only for his Ferrari to develop an MGU-H problem.
The Monegasque slowed dramatically and Hamilton made quick work of what was an initial nine-second gap.
He could be seen raising his hand as he breezed past the ailing Ferrari on lap 48, before going on to win the race.
“Ultimately you want to pass someone because you’re quicker than them and it’s been a fight,” Hamilton said afterwards.
“I went past Charles on the back straight and I raised my hand to him because there was nothing I could do, I didn’t have any problems.
“It feels weird and honestly you can’t believe your luck in that scenario but what can you do? You can’t deny yourself, you just have to keep doing what you do.
“I’ve been in positions like that before, where you’ve been in the lead and the car has stopped, so I know how it feels.”
Hamilton said Leclerc, who became F1's second-youngest ever pole-sitter on Saturday, “did incredible this weekend" and "has a bright future ahead of him”.
“It’s always good to live with the glass half-full,” Hamilton continued. “Today he still got some great points [with third place], even though he had that problem, and he was so much faster than his teammate.
“There are many positives for him to take from this, and we have a lot of work to do to keep up.”
Hamilton described his race as “up and down”, saying that he “got a terrible start once again” and that he looked to be out of contention to finish in the top two after a poor second stint.
“We [Mercedes] were very, very lucky today, to get the one-two,” he said. “Collectively we’ve done a solid job with the weekend but Ferrari outperformed us from the get-go and we’ve got to continue to work, [to find out] where we’ve gone wrong this weekend.”
Additional reporting by Ben Anderson
Share Or Save This Story
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
Lewis Hamilton “lucky to make it round” after Spanish GP brake failure
Red Bull defends decision to force Max Verstappen to give back two positions
Lewis Hamilton and Fred Vasseur recall GP2 title and 'most impressive race ever', 20 years on
Why Ferrari won't switch focus to 2027 F1 car yet
F1 Spanish GP at Madring: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
Should Ferrari have pitted Lewis Hamilton under the VSC at the Italian GP?
Max Verstappen takes just 14 laps to overtake 100 amateur karters in manic event
Hendrick to bring back iconic neon yellow car numbers for 2027
NASCAR changes wet-weather tire policy for Bristol to give teams more control
Max Verstappen beats the 100 in blistering time as it happened
F1 doesn't need to change its VSC rules despite Lando Norris' Spain loss
Why Lando Norris doesn’t buy George Russell’s driving style theory
How Kimi Antonelli is proving unbeatable, even when he's beaten
How Norris unfurled a surprising - and "unrepeatable" - Spanish GP pole lap
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments