Lewis Hamilton has admitted that his spectacular triple-overtake during the Bahrain Grand Prix was risky, but it did take him past a packed midfield to move into fifth.
On lap five of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Hamilton, who was in eighth after starting ninth, was sneaking up behind Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg. The Brit blasted past Alonso using DRS, got on the inside of both Ocon and Hulkenberg, who were already side by side as Ocon was attempting an overtake, and simply hit the brakes a tad later and held on. A brilliant move, which is already deemed the move of the season by some.
“I definitely didn’t [expect to pass three cars in one],” Hamilton laughed after the race.
“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, [because] I was trying to be cautious."
Hamilton qualified but had to start from ninth, as he needed an unscheduled gearbox change, which has a penalty of five places. Hamilton already struggled to find any pace to begin with though, as Ferrari showed from Friday on that they had the quickest car.
“I had a lot of people ahead and it’s a long, long race," Hamilton admitted.
"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 [to the front]."
Hamilton ended in third place, behind his teammate Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who made it two wins in two.
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