Autosport – 18 April 2019

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18 APRIL 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 19

CHINESE GP RACE CENTRE

With the stint well advanced by the time he was ahead, Vettel dived

into the pits at the end of lap 18 when only 2.070s clear of Leclerc.

This was in response to Verstappen stopping for hard Pirellis a lap

earlier. Verstappen had closed to 1.266s behind Leclerc – and

2.827s behind Vettel – when he pitted at the end of lap 17, so

both Ferraris were vulnerable to the undercut.

Vettel was called in first and emerged with Verstappen bearing

down on him after a good out-lap, on which he efficiently dispatched

both Sergio Perez’s Racing Point and Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault.

Verstappen attacked on the entry to the hairpin, braking ultra-late

and diving up the inside. Vettel left him space, cutting back to the

inside and repassing the Red Bull – hanging him out to dry and

forcing Verstappen to take a bite of the grass on the run out of the

corner. Verstappen considered attacking into the final corner, but

thought better, eased off and peeled back in behind Vettel.

Threat averted, hard-shod Vettel was able to consolidate his advantage

over Verstappen and inch away again. Mercedes, meanwhile, was able to

pick its moment and extended its first stint slightly. Bottas was called in

first, at the end of lap 21, with Hamilton a lap later. The reversal of the

usual leader-first order was to ensure Bottas didn’t lose too much time

to Vettel’s undercut, but he emerged with nearly five seconds in hand.

Conventional wisdom has it that Leclerc should have pitted by this

time. Had he stopped a lap after Vettel, he would have lost fourth place

to Verstappen but would at least have been close. Instead, he was told

Leclerc was told “you need to go faster otherwise we’ll let Sebastian past”.
Leclerc, as you’d expect, wasn’t delighted with this and started
to take issue before reining himself in. In the end, having been
given the instruction to cede position, he did as he was told and
let Vettel past into Turn 1 on lap 11.
The Ferrari switch allowed fifth-placed Verstappen to close a little.
Verstappen could have started ahead of the two Ferraris on the grid
had he, along with team-mate Pierre Gasly and both Haas drivers,
not failed to start the final Q3 lap before the chequered flag thanks to
getting stuck in the preparation-lap traffic. He was 2.7s behind the
pair before the changeover, but the gap immediately closed to two
seconds when the Ferraris swapped.
Once ahead, Vettel did not initially pull away from Leclerc. In
fact, he struggled a little and lost half a second to Leclerc when he
locked up and ran wide at the hairpin. “We are losing quite a lot of
time,” said Leclerc over the radio. “I don’t know if you want to
know or not, but I’m letting you know.”

“LECLERC, AS YOU’D EXPECT, WASN’T DELIGHTED

WITH THIS AND STARTED TO TAKE ISSUE BEFORE

REINING HIMSELF IN. IN THE END, HE DID AS HE

WAS TOLD AND LET VETTEL PAST”

Hamilton

took the lead at

the start after Bottas

experienced

wheelspin on

a white line