‘They’re trying to stop me’: Hamilton suggests F1 bosses don’t want him to break Schumacher’s record

Australia World

Daniel Ricciardo has been forced to overcome a five-second penalty at the Russian Grand Prix, finishing fifth as Lewis Hamilton also fell afoul of the rules.

Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, won the race ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, but the drama was on the last step of the podium.

Hamilton was hit with two five-second penalties for illegal starts during practice, but still managed to finish third.

“I’m pretty sure no-one’s got two five-second penalties for something so ridiculous before,” said the Briton, who had won six of the nine races before Sochi.

Hamilton is one victory away from matching Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 Grand Prix wins and suggested the powers-that-be did not want him to break the the record.

“They’re trying to stop me, aren’t they?” he told Sky Sports.

“It feels like we’re fighting uphill. But it’s OK. It’s not like I haven’t faced adversity before. So we just keep our heads down and keep fighting and keep trying to do a better job and be cleaner and squeaky clean.”

Race director Michael Masi said his “door is always open” and Hamilton could go to an independent judiciary if he had issues with the rulings.

Ricciardo was more accepting of his mid-race penalty, apologising to his team and offering a mea culpa.

The Renault of Daniel Ricciardo on the Sochi track at the Russian Grand Prix is chased by cars in the distance.The Renault of Daniel Ricciardo on the Sochi track at the Russian Grand Prix is chased by cars in the distance.
Daniel Ricciardo told his team he would just “drive faster” after being informed of his penalty.(AP: Kirill Kudryavtsev)

Starting the race from fifth on the grid, his Renault team wanted to give him a crack at Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Ricciardo’s teammate, Esteban Ocon, slowed to let the Australian pass.

But Ricciardo’s wheels locked up on the next turn, he went off the track, and then re-entered illegally.

He was issued a five-second penalty by the stewards, and when he was told about it on the track, made a typically Ricciardo-esque assessment of the situation.

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“OK, I’ll drive faster,” he said over the team radio.

After the race he told Motorsport.com he knew it was coming, so it was an easy penalty to accept.

“I was like, the only way to eliminate the penalty is to go faster, and build a gap to [Ferrari’s Charles] Leclerc behind me,” he said.

“It was actually quite good in hindsight, it lit a bit of a fire under my bum and I just got on with it. I think that was cool. I was, I guess, proud to not let it get to me.”

ABC/Reuters