the times | Monday May 23 2022 63
Sport
failure forced him to
retire on lap 27, when
leading the race. He
led the standings by 19Charles Leclerc is
pushed into his garage
by the Ferrari pitcrew
after a power-unit
points going into the
race, for which he was
on pole, but now trails
Max Verstappen by six.from so far behind feels even better than winning
we didn’t [pull out]. It just shows that
you never stop, never give up.”
With George Russell finishing third,
Mercedes are right back in the fight.
Hamilton admitted that they would
still struggle for outright pace at
Monaco next weekend but after all
their recent troubles he was adamant
that they have turned a corner.
“Since the last race of last year it has
been difficult all round,” he said. “To
then have the difficulties we’ve had
with the car and the constant knock-
backs with safety cars and everything
else, there has not been much good
fortune. We have made a lot of
improvements in the car and the race
pace is much better. The car is much
nicer in the race. They experimented
with something on George’s car that
ultimately ended up being the better
way to go in qualifying.
“Maybe in the next race I’ll take that,
too. This is a great sign we are going in
the right direction. If I hadn’t had that
early incident I would have been fight-
ing with the Red Bulls. That gives megreat hope that at some stage we will be
fighting for a win.”
Hamilton also revealed that he had
been given extra motivation by talking
with a terminally ill girl on the eve of
the race. “She said, ‘Can you win the
race for me tomorrow?’ I said, ‘I don’t
know if we can win the race but I’ll give
it everything’. For me that was a bit like
a win and I can dedicate it to her.”
Max Verstappen took the chequered
flag for the third race in a row, after Red
Bull imposed team orders upon Sergio
Pérez, who had been leading. The world
champion recovered from spinning
into the gravel on lap nine before
engaging in a ferocious battle with
Russell, who held him back for 19 laps,
as Verstappen struggled with his DRS.
“As soon as I wanted to attack, my
DRS stopped working,” he said. “It was
upsetting at the time but then I calmed
myself down and focused on the bigger
picture. It was a tough battle with
George, especially without the DRS. I
didn’t want to take too much of a risk, I
had to be patient.”of Leclerc’s power cut
leapfrogging them with a 2-1 win away
to Brentford, while Tottenham
Hotspur secured the fourth and final
Champions League qualification spot
ahead of rivals Arsenal by thrashing
Norwich City 5-0 at Carrow Road.
Manchester United’s torrid season
ended with another defeat, 1-0 away to
Crystal Palace, but they managed to
finish sixth and qualify for the Europa
League as West Ham United missed the
chance to move above them by losing
3-1 away to Brighton & Hove Albion.
For City, it was Guardiola’s three
second-half substitutes — Oleksandr
Zinchenko, Ilkay Gundogan and Rah-
eem Sterling — who changed the game
after Matty Cash and Philippe
Coutinho had given the away side,
managed by the Liverpool legend
Steven Gerrard, a shock two-goal lead.
“All the team did it, as always,”
Guardiola said. “Otherwise you cannot
achieve what we have done in the last
five or six seasons. Four Premier Lea-
gues — these guys are legends already,
people have to admit it. This group of
players are absolutely eternal in this
club because what we achieved is so dif-
ficult to do.
“Now, again, I realise the magnitude
of Sir Alex Ferguson and his United
doing this — and we are part of that. In
one year, we will defend our crown.”
Guardiola started his post-match
press conference by dedicating the title
to the victims of the Manchester Arena
bombing, with the game falling on the
fifth anniversary of the atrocity. He
then went on to congratulate Liverpool
for the role they played in the title race.
With City trailing by two and Liver-
pool being held at home to Wolves for
much of the second half, the Mersey-
side club only needed one goal to clinch
the title, but those three goals in six
minutes ensured City won it by a point.
“Congratulations to Man City and
Pep Guardiola. Thank you to Aston
Villa and Wolverhampton for making a
proper game of it,” Jürgen Klopp, the
Liverpool manager, said. “It’s not the
result we wanted. It was a bit of a roller-
coaster. I don’t know the results exactly
but I know Villa were 1-0 up — were
they 2-0 up as well? Of course at the
moment there’s disappointment but 92
points is absolutely incredible.
“We wanted it all, but now it’s OK.
Finishing second is the story of my life.
I’m still the record-holder for not get-
ting promoted in Germany with the
highest points tally.”
Jack Grealish, who was an unused
substitute against his former side,
thought the worst when Coutinho dou-
bled Villa’s lead. “At 2-0 I thought we
were done,” he said. “You just think it’s
not your day. But with the players in this
team, they turned it around, and credit
to the manager. He could have brought
me on, but I don’t think he fancied it.”
City will celebrate with their fans at a
bus parade in Manchester city centre
today, and Guardiola joked that he
would bring the beers and the cigars.
But the City manager would not
divulge whether the taste of another
Premier League victory makes him
want to extend his stay at the club, with
his contract due to expire next summer.
“I’m so exhausted right now, I need rest
and I need to see the team next season,”
he said. “One year is a long time, we
think about what we have to do for the
club. Four Premier Leagues in five years
is probably the best achievement in our
careers, we’ll be proud for a long time.”Second
place? Story
of my life,
says Klopp
continued from back
Over and out for Ferrari’s main man