David Coulthard surprised by Ferrari tactics in China

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc treated us to a thrilling scrap over the final podium position at the Chinese Grand Prix.

It was a scrap eventually won by Hamilton, but 13-time grand prix winner David Coulthard was surprised Ferrari did not call it off after making for some, at times, “uncomfortable” viewing.

Lewis Hamilton beats Charles Leclerc as Ferrari allow duel

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It started as a three-way battle also featuring Mercedes’ George Russell. But, once the championship leader had cleared the Ferraris, it became a scrap between Hamilton and Leclerc over P3.

Hamilton emerged to record his first podium as a Ferrari driver, and a record-extending 203rd of his career.

“I think he drove brilliantly, and there’s no question he’s been a lot happier,” Coulthard said of Hamilton, via the Up To Speed podcast.

“There’s a bit of a split audience, in terms of those that are loving the on track action, and, let’s say more the historical purists, who are going, ‘Well, the drivers are harvesting in areas where you would typically have been pushing’.

“Putting all that to one side, the rules are the same for everybody, and all the teams have had the opportunity to put their best foot forward. Ferrari have put on track the second-best car at the moment.

“They’re an annoyance to Mercedes, but they don’t have the pace in the first two Grand Prix to beat them over that duration.

“But what we have seen is Hamilton somehow adapting to the set of regulations. I was kind of watching from the commentary box, thinking, ‘Okay, when’s Leclerc going to come’. Leclerc didn’t. That was a Hamilton masterclass in a one-stop race.”

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Ferrari could have been an even greater annoyance to Mercedes, Coulthard suggests, had they not allowed Hamilton and Leclerc to duel so intensely with each other.

“They’re two number ones,” Coulthard said of the Ferrari pair.

“Sometimes it’s uncomfortable to watch, because I said in commentary, ‘Well, look, if Charles is hustling on Lewis, why not just release him, see if he can go and put the Mercedes under pressure’, because you don’t know if there’s going to be another Safety Car or various other things.

“And then if he doesn’t, then you can then say, swap the positions back.

“All the time they’re racing each other, which is brilliant for us, they’re just losing ground relative to Mercedes.

“So I’m going to assume, in the absence of speaking to Fred, that they were like, ‘We do not have the pace to win this Grand Prix. So this is about us just doing our thing, and then we’ll develop the car and see if we can battle Mercedes’.

“I was surprised by that, but hell, it gave us a great race.”

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur admitted after the race that Ferrari risked looking “completely stupid” had something gone wrong in that Hamilton vs Leclerc contest.

Hamilton revealed a subtle “kiss” between the Ferrari cars, but, it was a battle which remained clean, and which both drivers enjoyed.

Vasseur suggested that it was important for team morale that Hamilton and Leclerc were kept free to race.

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