“I wasn’t sure it would come”– Lewis Hamilton after gaining his 100th win under unusual circumstances in the Russian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton didn’t have a great beginning to the race in Sochi, but the seven-time world champion went on to give a fight back, and in the final few laps, only Lando Norris was left to be beaten.
The 21-year-old McLaren driver gave him a hard time, but the massive downpour of rain benefitted Hamilton, allowing him to take the lead and claim his 100th Grand Prix win.
The win has taken the Briton once again at the top of the table in the drivers’ championship with a marginal lead of two points against Max Verstappen.
However, the 100 mark is itself a remarkable achievement, which was never done before, and for Hamilton, it seemed a distant task in the near past.
HISTORY!!! 💯@LewisHamilton becomes the first F1 driver ever to reach 100 wins 👏👏👏#RussianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/AK5cCAaxpe
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 26, 2021
“What a race the weather provided. It’s taken a long time to get to 100 and I wasn’t sure it would come,” said Hamilton.”Lando did such an amazing job, he had incredible pace and is doing such a great job for McLaren. It was bittersweet to see my old team ahead and they’re doing fantastically.”
“The team made a great call right at the end. I didn’t want to let Lando go and I didn’t know what the weather was doing. I’m incredibly grateful to all these men and women here and back at the factory.”
“Going to bed last night I was not the happiest with the job I did yesterday. I watched the replay and they were subtle mistakes but not ideal. I was so determined when I woke up this morning and I was determined to just do the best job I could.”
Lando Norris didn’t make mistakes
Hamilton was impressed by Norris’ defence in the final laps and credited rain for the change in his fortune, as he claims Norris was undefeatable within the status quo.
“I lost a lot of ground at the start trying to stay out of trouble. Max must’ve done a great job to come up to second from last. We’ve got our work cut out.”
“It would’ve been tough to get past Lando unless we came up to some traffic or he made a mistake, which he hasn’t been doing, so then the rain came and it was very opportunistic.”
