Autosport Magazine

15 May 2014

And so the Formula 1 pendulum remains firmly swung in Lewis Hamilton’s favour. Four grand prix wins on the trot have more than made up for his opening-race DNF, and he strode away from the Barcelona paddock with a three-point lead. Post-race, Lewis seemed to be rejoicing that he felt team-mate Nico Rosberg had the faster car for the majority of the weekend, and his rearguard action during the final stint to keep Rosberg at bay was mighty. He’s demoralised Nico in recent weeks; another win at Monaco (Rosberg’s backyard) in a fortnight would be huge. As for Mercedes’ competition, we’ve seen shoots of recovery from beleaguered world champion Red Bull. While Daniel Ricciardo continues to shine, Sebastian Vettel’s engineer ‘Rocky’ Rocquelin told his charge on the slowing-down lap: “For once I’ll cheer you up, you got fastest lap!” That prompted Seb’s response: “I’m very happy with that! We’ll get there. Soon the star will go down.” Fighting talk from Vettel, but if he thinks catching Merc is going to happen any time soon, Hamilton had a message for him too: “If they’re going to throw the kitchen sink at us, we’ll throw the bathtub!” Touche, Lewis.