Hamilton: Leclerc has lots of wins to come in F1

Lewis Hamilton says Charles Leclerc has “lots more wins” to come in Formula 1 after an engine problem cruelly robbed the Ferrari driver of victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix. 

Polesitter Leclerc had dominated proceedings in Bahrain having recovered from a poor start and looked set to claim his maiden grand prix win until late power unit issues struck. 

An apparent MGU-H failure on Leclerc’s SF90 left him 40kph down on the straights and a sitting duck to the Mercedes pair of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, who both passed the 21-year-old.

Hamilton opened up his team radio immediately after taking the 74th win of his F1 career to say Leclerc was “extremely unfortunate”, before going over to console the Monegasque prior to celebrating with his team.  

“This weekend Ferraris have been incredible,” Hamilton said. “I had to see Charles, He did such a great job, he had done the job to win race. He deserved to win.

“It’s a great result for the team, considering how hard the race was. But this guy here, [Leclerc] has lots more wins coming in the future.”

Hamilton pulled off an overtake on Sebastian Vettel en route to securing the win, while his 2018 title rival was left spinning moments after being passed at Turn 4. The German was forced to pit after losing his front wing and suffering a puncture, before ultimately finishing fifth. 

“We were definitely lucky today but we have to take it as it comes,” Hamilton added. “I still gave it everything in the race, I pushed as hard as I could. Obviously the fight I had with Vettel was great fun for me.

“There was a massive headwind into T4, so I braked later than usual, dived around outside. I don’t think we touched or anything like that.”