The Overview III

Vettel had clawed back to 5.8-seconds when Hamilton made his only stop of the race. Vettel re-established a 13.2-second lead.

It was crucial that Vettel open his gap to make Ferrari’s two-stop plan successful, but Hamilton was faster on his new compound. Thus, when Vettel pitted for the final time on lap 37 he had failed in stretching his lead sufficiently, he joined 7.3s behind Hamilton. He still had a chance since his tyres held a 13-lap wear advantage, and Vettel was flying.

Unfortunately, as Vettel closed in a tenth of a second a lap, his Ferrari’s brake, tire and aero synchronicity was pushed beyond its capacity. Three times he overshot his turn in at the infamous Turn 13. On lap 56 he locked up and took the escape path, costing him 1.5 seconds to Hamilton.

Five laps later, Vettel once again lost front braking at the final chicane, increasing the gap to seven seconds. He had lost around 4 seconds on his three errors; Ferrari had apparently made a tire strategy error. Hamilton now had a sustainable lead and could now relax during the final laps.