Toto Wolff, Mercedes’s head of motorsport, did not have an answer for the
disparity between the drivers, suggesting they were “pretty par”.
Even Hamilton, however, admitted on Sunday night he had never had such an
advantage over a rival in the same machinery.
“It’s massive”, he said. “I can’t remember the last time in my career I had a
gap like that, particularly with a team-mate driving the same car. That’s
definitely a good feeling. But by no means does that mean that it’s easy.
I’ve still got work to do.”
There have been more doubts about the 2008 world champion in the preamble to
this season than you might expect, particularly for the title favourite.
Hamilton, who defended his intellect in Melbourne, showed in Sepang that there
is no reason why he cannot thrive under the new regulations. Indeed, he even
had the edge when it came to fuel saving, an area in which it was suggested
he might struggle. It was a faultless performance.
Hamilton and Rosberg are long-time friends, and are therefore reluctant to
talk up any psychological battle. But clearly, based on his comments after
the race, Hamilton was buoyed by the margin of victory.
“I learnt a few things in practice, but it is a different thing learning it
from applying it,” he said. “But today I applied it and that’s why I blew
him away.”
Rosberg still holds an 18-point advantage in the championship and did not seem
too downbeat as Benedict Cumberbatch asked the questions on the podium. But
based on Sunday’s performance it may not be too many races until Hamilton
has successfully bridged the gap, and asserts his status as the Sherlock
rather than Watson of the duo.
Jenson Button, a good judge of any inter-team battle, was equally impressed by
his old McLaren team-mate’s dominant display. “Looking at what Lewis did is
going to hurt a little bit,” he said on Sunday night.
“He was super-fast here. Seventeen seconds is a lot to put between you and
your team-mate when you have both had a clear race. I am sure that is strike
one.”
After the race, Hamilton dedicated the victory to the victims of the Malaysian
Airlines tragedy, and it began in a similarly sober fashion, with a minute’s
silence on the grid. Once the five lights went out, the mood never really
picked up.
It had been hoped that changes to the engines, aerodynamics, as well as the
tyres, might spice up the racing, but in reality the race unfolded in the
same processional fashion which dominated 2013.
Hamilton led comfortably from pole, while Sebastian Vettel squeezed Rosberg
off the line. In doing so, he not only lost second, but fell to fourth
behind his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who again showed why he was offered
the top drive.
Within a few laps, however, Vettel had found his way through. From then on,
barring a flurry of bad luck for Ricciardo, the order at the front largely
remained. A mistake by Kevin Magnussen, clipping the rear tyre of Kimi
Raikkonen, brought a penalty for the former and a puncture for the latter.
Magnussen, one of the stars of Melbourne, was apologetic after the race, but
he recovered well to come home ninth. Button finished sixth on a relatively
average day for McLaren.
Asked if the gap to Mercedes would be insurmountable by the first European
race, in May, the team’s racing director, Eric Boullier, said no.
Bridgeable at all this season? “That’s the right question. Maybe by Europe
next year, yes.”
Away from the front the liveliest battle of the day came at Williams.
Felipe Massa, two races into his career with a new outfit, did not manage to
avoid the team orders he thought he had left behind at Ferrari, ignoring a
call to allow his younger team-mate through in the closing laps.
The order given – “Valtteri [Bottas] is faster than you, don’t hold him up” –
was reminiscent of the order he received at Hockenheim in 2010. This time,
however, Massa was not so compliant.
But there was no such worry for Mercedes, who avoided the thorny subject of
team orders after last year’s controversy in this very race, so great was
Hamilton’s advantage.