It was a one forever moment when Lewis Hamilton, with aid of a slipstream, DRS wide open and his Mercedes flat-out, elected to hug the end of the pitwall and the inside line to power past three rivals and on his way to third place in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The reigning F1 World Champion started the race from ninth on the grid. Thanks to a great car over the years mid-pack mayhem is not familiar territory for the Briton. Thus it was no surprise that he was overly cautious during despite colliding with Max Verstappen exiting the first turn on the opening lap.
The Mercedes survived and Hamilton composed himself during the two-lap safety car period that ensued to clear the broken Red Bulls.
When it went green again, he was immediately a man on the move. On the main straight with Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon in close contention and battling among themselves he pounced.
It was a very brave and opportunist Hamilton who opted to go around the trio by hugging the inside all the way to the tight right-hander and emerging ahead - from ninth to sixth in a hundred hair-raising metres.
After the race, Hamilton was more relieved the move did not end up in tears than impressed with himself, “It’s not an easy manoeuvre to pull off – it’s quite risky. But I’d lost so much ground at the start, you know, I was trying to be cautious."
“I had a lot of people ahead and it’s a long, long race. So I was trying to take it easy and I lost a lot of ground at the start, so I needed to come back. The 3-in-1 manoeuvre was very helpful, but unfortunately not enough to get close enough."
It was a case of damage limitation for the reigning F1 World Champion, who ended up finishing third behind winner and championship leader Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton continued, “Valtteri was asked if he wished the race was a lap more. I wish the race was another four or five laps longer. Then I probably would have been in the mix and been able to fight with them [Vettel and Bottas]."
“It was definitely the best result we could have got, but I’ve lost a lot of points in the last two races. We’re hoping for better things in the races to come. But I am really happy with the result,” added Hamilton whose third place gave him a F1 record-equalling 27th consecutive points finish.
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