Lewis Hamilton move on Sebastian Vettel could define season - Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff

Hamilton move on Vettel could define season - Wolff

He secured an unlikely win for Mercedes.

Matthew Scott

Monday 1 April 2019 17:19

Toto Wolff said Lewis Hamilton's bold overtake around the outside of Sebastian Vettel could prove to be a pivotal moment in the 2019 season, not just the Bahrain Grand Prix. Hamilton went on to secure victory in Sakhir, despite Ferrari dominating the weekend before the race.

Charles Leclerc had looked set to convert his first pole position into a maiden race win, but was let down by an engine failure.

Despite Ferrari's superior pace, it was not Vettel in position to benefit, as he had spun out of second place while battling Hamilton.

Article continues under video

The Silver Arrows have secured one-two finishes in the opening two races of 2019, despite Ferrari's billing as pre-season favourites.

"Lewis fought a fight with a weapon that maybe wasn't on his opponent's level," said Wolff. "Staying within the DRS helped us to stay behind and helped us to stay close and that was the crucial battle.

"If he wouldn't have won that battle [with Vettel] it would have been Sebastian winning the race and these are the little differences that can change race results and can swing championships."

With strong leads in both championships already, the former Mercedes stronghold of Shanghai is next on the schedule, however Wolff believes it will not play into their hands this year.

"We're walking away with 43 points from this weekend, but it is clear that we were very fortunate today and that it was our reliability, not our pace that won us the race," he said.

"We are lacking straight line speed which is very important in China. So we need to stick our heads together and analyse why we were struggling with our pace both in qualifying and in the race.

"It's a very close fight and we need to make sure to bring our A game in order to be competitive in Shanghai."