Hamilton says ‘heart sank’ as tyre gamble backfired before stunning Sepang recovery

By Rohith Nair Lewis Hamilton said he had mixed emotions after the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia where he started second on the grid but dropped to 18th when a tyre gamble went wrong before fighting to finish third in a chaotic, rain-hit race on Sunday. After rain delayed the start of the race by more than 90 minutes, Hamilton was one of the few drivers who switched from intermediate tyres to slicks on a track that was still drying. The Briton had a slow start and then found himself going backwards, falling as low as 18th, but he opted to stick with his strategy despite Ferrari calling him back into the pits for a tyre change. Hamilton then carved his way through the field as the track dried up while safety cars also came to his rescue, with the veteran eventually overtaking Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in the dying stages to secure a podium behind Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli.

“As a team, we ended up taking that soft (tyre) and at the end of the pit lane, these two (Verstappen and Antonelli) took off their (tyre) blankets and my heart just sank, because I knew straight away that we were in trouble,” Hamilton told reporters. “As we pulled out, all the spray came out the back of Max’s car and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m done. My race is really in trouble’. “We made the decision to live with it. As everyone was overtaking me, they (Ferrari) said, ‘Should we stop? ’ I said, ‘No, we’ve already waited another 26 seconds. What’s the difference’. ” But as the track dried and safety car deployments played into his hands, Hamilton began a remarkable recovery drive as he gave Hadjar chase for fourth place, before George Russell’s retirement gave him a shot at a podium. “I just waited for the track to dry and once it did, it felt good that I was catching people. The car felt great.…