Lewis Hamilton appeared to give up hope of claiming a record eighth Formula 1 title this year as he said that “there’s no stopping” Kimi Antonelli following the championship leader’s latest victory at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Antonelli benefitted from some good fortune at the new all-new Madring circuit to claim his eighth victory of the season, while Hamilton retired early in the race after suffering a brake-pedal issue on his Ferrari.
The victory saw Antonelli extend his lead at the top of the standings over his Mercedes team-mate George Russell to 81 points, while Hamilton fell 101 points back in third, with Norris five points further adrift in fourth.
“I think there’s no stopping him and Mercedes this year,” Hamilton said of his former team during a post-race interview with Sky Sports F1.
“They’ve done a phenomenal job and they deserve it.”
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While Antonelli was fortunate on Sunday as the timing of a virtual safety car enabled him to leapfrog McLaren’s Lando Norris, who had appeared on course for a comfortable victory, the 20-year-old Italian has driven with supreme consistency in just his second F1 campaign.
Even with the huge lead he has built, Antonelli is insisting that he is refusing to think about a maiden title and instead focusing on maintaining a race-by-race approach.
Antonelli said: “I want to keep pushing race by race, keep delivering and keep enjoying it all the way and try to do my best every race and we will see where we end up at the end of the year.”
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What happened to Hamilton?
Hamilton got a brilliant start to immediately jump Max Verstappen for third and then attempted an audacious dive up the inside of Norris and Antonelli.
Falling back into position as he had to back out of the move, he then nearly made contact with Verstappen, who cut the first chicane but returned to the track ahead of Hamilton.
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Verstappen, who then passed Antonelli for second, was advised by his Red Bull team to drop back to fourth to avoid a penalty, as they felt he would be penalised by the stewards if he didn’t.
Hamilton was let through into third, but shortly before that had happened, he had begun experiencing an issue with his brake pedal that left him struggling to control his car and contributed to a bump with a barrier.
“I was already basically before that, braking for Turn Five,” Hamilton explained.
“I hit the brake, the car started stopping and then the pedal took a step and, all of a sudden, the car didn’t decelerate as fast as it would normally.
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“That ended up carrying a lot of speed in, and then just brushed the barrier.
“Then, after that, the pedal came back and it was fine and then I think a few corners later the pedal went long. I don’t really know where that’s come from.”
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