Sport
Lewis Hamilton wins Chinese Grand Prix
Vettel faded after the second pitstop and trailed by more than 15 seconds when the safety car came out with two laps remaining after Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso car stalled on the track. The race came to an anticlimactic finish with the drivers rounding the circuit twice behind the safety car.
“We thought it would be a lot closer and we knew the Ferraris were very, very good with their long run pace and also looking after their tires,” Hamilton said. “So today the real goal was to manage the tires and my goal was to look after my car.”
Hamilton and Rosberg have been friends since childhood, but tensions began to emerge between the teammates as they battled for the drivers’ championship last year. They exchanged barbs in the media and even collided on the track during the Belgian Grand Prix, knocking Hamilton out of the race.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the teammates discussed Sunday’s incident after the race without animosity.
“There wasn’t any intention from Lewis to slow Nico down in order to make him finish third or worse, 100 percent,” Wolff said.
The safety car may have come out just in time for Vettel, who was holding onto a slight lead over Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen at the end of the race. Vettel finished third and Raikkonen settled for fourth, just missing his first podium finish since the Singapore Grand Prix in 2013.
“We tried everything we could today,” Vettel said. “We were really able to put again some pressure on them, especially in the beginning of the race. Toward the end I think they were just too quick.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press
