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After the Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton turned to Charles Leclerc, whose world champion had inherited the victory when the Ferrari driver had an engine problem in the final laps.
"You did well this weekend, man," Hamilton said. "You really drove fantastic, you have a very old future in front of you, I know it's scary right now but you have a very long way to go."
A few minutes earlier, after stopping in the pit lane, Leclerc was stopped in the middle of the race to pull himself out of the car. It is hooked to the protective device of the halo-shaped head, head down. He went out, discouraged, removed his helmet, accepted the sentences of his teammate Sebastian Vettel. Leclerc put his hands on his face, then, resigned, raised an arm under the applause of the crowd.
The 21-year-old had just finished third behind Hamilton and the other Mercedes by Valtteri Bottas. But everyone knew that Leclerc was the moral winner. His consolation was twofold: a late safety car had prevented him from falling further into the peloton in the final laps. and, just as importantly, he drove so as to suggest that the first victory that should have been won Sunday will not be very far down the road.
It is easy to slip into hyperbole in such moments, after a weekend in which a pilot has totally dominated his rivals.
But it's no exaggeration to say that for three days in Bahrain, Leclerc has dispelled all doubts, it may be that it will be a man who will remain in the center of Formula 1 for many years .
"At Leclerc," said Toto Wolff, director of F1 at Mercedes, we see a young champion in the making, the emotional winner of today, the fastest man in the machine. faster. He has today the cruel side of racing. our fortune. "
A powerful statement of intent
Leclerc was personified throughout the weekend in Bahrain. On the track, he was "the man" all weekend, taking pole of his four-time world champion teammate to nearly 0.3 seconds, and then dominating the race all the way to that point. his engine hits a problem with just over 10 laps to go.
His engineer told him that the MGU-H – a key component of the hybrid engine system – had failed. The head of the team, Mattia Binotto, later stated that this was not the case and that it was a cylinder problem.
His only real mistake was the bad start which made him fall in third place in the first round. But after that, he was like a tiger chasing a deer.
Bottas was sent at the start of the second lap, after the Finn was caught in the wind and braked too late for Turn One.
That left Vettel alone. In two laps, Leclerc halved Vettel's lead in half and then went on the radio to inform her team, as if she had not noticed: "Guys, I'm much faster."
"I just let them know," said Leclerc after the race. "I had an answer and they said," Stay like that for two rounds. "But I had the opportunity in the next round."
Leclerc pbaded Vettel around Turn 4 and with that he was gone. That should have led to his first Grand Prix win in his second race for Ferrari, at the start of his second F1 season without this engine.
"Oh, my God," he said on the radio, as he realized that the victory was going to elude him, as his engine was deprived of enough power to reduce his speed in a straight line of 40 km / h. But then nothing comes down to trying to limit losses.
"It's a pity to lose money that way," he said, "but I had a lot of things to do, so I quickly came back to focusing on my race." The win was out of reach , but there were still very important points to win, focus, let the disappointment on one side. "
The luck, which had abandoned him when he led, came to the aid of Leclerc. He lost second to Hamilton teammate Valtteri Bottas and was close to losing third place to Max Verstappen of Red Bull. But then both Renault broke down on the same lap. The safety car was deployed and the race, neutralized, ended below.
It was a first podium – an insignificant consolation while what should have been a first victory had become begging, but nevertheless a consolation.
"Since the weekend, there are a lot of positives," Leclerc said. "In Australia (at the first race of the season), we were quite far away, we found some answers, the team did a great job between the two races and we showed that we also had a very good pace during the race.
"The problems always occur in a season and if I ever have a problem, I finish third, I can be quite happy.Today was not our day.It is sad I was so close to making a dream come true, but I hope this day will come someday into the future. "
Few doubt.
"Very very impressive," said Wolff. "He has a good personality, he is a humble young man and he is very fast, having the combination of speed, personality and ability to change his emotions in both directions is an excellent ingredient.
"I know many other pilots who have the lion – like him – would have reacted differently and would have been angry and would have shown it, and we have not seen that with Charles."
Hamilton added, "Charles has done an incredible job this weekend and has a bright future ahead of him, that will only make him stronger."
What now for Vettel?
The decisive weekend of Leclerc could have been worse news for Vettel.
There were many who thought that Leclerc would be a big challenge for the German this year, including this writer, but the way he was eclipsed can only weigh on Ferrari's nominal team leader. 39, here the Chinese Grand Prix in two weeks.
Vettel can hardly have a worse weekend than this one. Surpbaded by Leclerc, Vettel also made another driving mistake – the kind that clarified his title challenge last season.
He had beaten Hamilton several times throughout the race and, after 20 laps to go, Hamilton was coming back to him, determined to take second place.
The Mercedes went outside at turn four, made a neat gesture, then at the exit, Vettel simply spun by himself. He severely damaged his tires by immobilizing the car before it hit the wall, which caused vibrations that broke his front fender as he returned to the pits to get fresh rubber.
"Aargh," said Vettel on the radio. His desperation reminded him of what he did after canceling the home win last year. This time, what would have been a second place has been transformed into a fourth.
"It was very close," said Vettel about the incident. "I tried to get back inside as before, but Turn Four was one of the hardest turns (because of the strong wind) My mistake, I lost the back, then I turned and I damaged the tires during the rotation.so that I had a lot of vibrations that then led to the failure of the front fender.
"I realized after about a half-lap after the start that it would be very difficult and that the car was extremely difficult to drive in. I think Charles has struggled less and that he has not had difficulty following me and pbading me.
"It was not the race we wanted to go in. Overall it was not the pace I wanted to have, I did not know why and then I had the mistake of turning This is not a good evening. "
Before the beginning of the year, one of the main topics of discussion was the internal dynamics of Ferrari and the way Vettel would face the obvious pace of Leclerc.
Could he eliminate the mistakes of 2018 while taking up the challenge of a man that many already considered as a future superstar? There is no definitive answer yet, but the magnitude of Vettel's challenge has been clearly underlined in Bahrain's light.
A word for Hamilton
Hamilton inherited this victory, there is no doubt. But they say you're doing your own luck, and he certainly played his part.
Mercedes struggled against Ferrari in Bahrain and the team's decision to put Hamilton on a soft tire during his second stint put him in poor grip and tires with fast fading.
Indeed, Vettel, which Hamilton had exceeded at pit stops, partly thanks to the choice of these soft tires, came back to him and took second place. Hamilton complained on the radio, but remained faithful to his task and kept the Ferrari within sight when it initially felt like collapsing.
This meant that he was able to quickly return to Vettel's last relay, once back on average tires, and that's what led to the situation in which the mistake of Vettel was committed.
"He fought with a weapon that may not have been at the level of his opponent," Wolff said. "If he had not won this battle, it's Sébastien who would have won the race.It's the differences that can change the results of the race and the championships."
Where does Ferrari's rhythm come from?
Mercedes left Bahrain with serious concerns. The Ferrari was not faster cornering – all its advantage was in straight lines. The internal combustion engine has much more power than the Mercedes and could deploy its hybrid power much longer.
Then comes China, where the Shanghai track has the longest straight of F1.
"I do not know what has failed on the engine," said Wolff, "but if they manage to maintain these power levels on a power-sensitive circuit such as Shanghai, they are the favorites because the turn advantage could be greater than Bahrain.
"(Victory) is a little moderate because we are all runners and the emotional winner was Charles, but in car racing you find yourself in both situations, sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you are unlucky, but everything weighs in the end.
"You have to take the duet with humility and know that there is still work to be done and not think that it was Sunday's performance ranking. That was not the case."
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