Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton backed out of the battle for the race win to preserve his engine, the reigning champion has revealed.
Drivers are limited to just three power units this season, meaning Hamilton needs to make this engine last at least seven races to avoid grid penalties later in the season.
The Mercedes driver was running just behind race leader Sebastian Vettel after Vettel passed Hamilton in the pits. He kept the pressure on Vettel for the majority of the race, but had to back off in the closing stages as his engine temperatures ran too high.
“Obviously, [Vettel] had the fresher tyres,” Hamilton explained. “I was as close as I could be but the aerodynamics make it very tricky whenever I was getting that little bit closer.
“He looked like he was struggling. I don’t know, but he was able to hold on.
“I was trying to keep the pressure on because I saw a couple of mistakes appearing at some points, and when I got close I then also had a lock-up and went wide.
“Also the engine temps were too high and the engineer says this one needs to do seven races, so I started to think towards the end it was better to live to fight another day and make sure that the engine is in good health for the next races.”
He added that the Melbourne track is incredibly difficult to overtake on, even with the extra DRS zone introduced this season.
“You need something like a 1.8s advantage or something crazy like that to be able to pass someone.”
