Hamilton thought he needed ‘miracle’
Lewis Hamilton admits that he believed his chances of victory in Bahrain had gone following a safety car period.
Lewis Hamilton revealed he was convinced his chances of victory had vanished at the Bahrain Grand Prix after a safety car period negated his hard-earned lead between pit stops.
Hamilton had a lead of about nine seconds over Rosberg when the safety car came out on Lap 41. Hamilton went on to the medium tyres in order to gain an advantage over his Mercedes teammate.
I think we were both on the knife-edge and, when you're on the knife-edge, the risks increase.
However, knowing that Rosberg was on the faster prime tyre, and he admitted he thought his chance to claim back-to-back Grand Prix victories had gone.
“I think we were both on the knife-edge and, when you’re on the knife-edge, the risks increase,” Hamilton said.
“He drove fantastically well, he was fair and I like to think that I was too. It was close, but we didn’t damage each others’ race and the team put their trust in us which was great.”
A healthy rivalry
Hamilton also said his mind was cast back to beating Rosberg during their first karting meet together, and how he feared his team-mate was going to get revenge on the biggest stage of all.
“I came to Italy for my second big, big race and Nico was already a superstar there.”
“Nico was leading the race, I was second, and I pushed him to get away from everyone else. Then, on the last lap, I overtook him and won the race, which was amazing for me.”
The win closes Hamilton’s deficit to Rosberg in the championship to 11 points, following the Briton’s retirement from the opening race of the season in Australia where Rosberg won.