Lewis Hamilton isn't winning but F1 is revelling in a three-way combat between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull

Here’s a remarkable little statistic that some of us might have overlooked in all the excitement of the first three races in the 2018 Formula One world championship. Lewis Hamilton hasn’t won a grand prix since the US in Austin last October.

By his own admission he relaxed a little after that clinched him his fourth world championship and made him statistically Britain’s most successful driver. But what’s happening this year?

He should have won in Australia, but was unlucky with a safety car intervention. In Bahrain he got a five-place grid penalty, but in any case found his Mercedes was not quite a match for nemesis Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari and had to be content with a valiant recovery to third. But in China he was blown away by team-mate Valtteri Bottas, behind whom he finished for the second consecutive race, and was lucky to finish fourth.

That brought him from 17 to within nine points of Vettel, but at one stage he seemed set to pick up only fifth or sixth place as Vettel seemed on course to win again, which would have stretched the German’s lead to 32 or more as they both aim for a fifth title.

Where Red Bull’s tacticians were quick enough to pit both of their men on the 31st lap when the safety car came out because of the mess left by the clashing Toro Rossos, Mercedes missed the trick. That left Hamilton out on worn medium tyres, and thus a sitting duck for both revitalised Red Bulls on their new soft rubber, and Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari on fresher medium. Hamilton only had two sets of worn soft tyres left after practice and qualifying, but they would still have been a better bet than his mediums. He was lucky to get fourth place when Verstappen was dropped back by a 10-second time penalty for colliding with Vettel. Without that, he would have been only sixth.

“It doesn’t really make a difference. It doesn’t matter now, it’s done,” he said, loyally. But at the time he asked waspishly why everyone behind him was on new tyres and clearly felt it was a team mistake. Toto Wolff admitted as much, and that must be a worry to Hamilton, who had already tabled discussions about the team’s strategic methodology after Bahrain.

“We move forward,” he said. “The team made the decision. I would’ve fallen behind Kimi, and at the time we didn’t know that we would have the collisions and all that stuff ahead, so at the time it was not the right decision.”

Insight is always 20/20 vision, but you only have to look at what Red Bull achieved to see how such quick thinking can pay off even if it seems like a gamble at the time.

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Mercedes don’t seem to have the same air of confidence that they have exuded since the turbo-hybrid formula was inaugurated in 2014, and efforts thus far to eliminate their car’s diva shortcomings from 2017 appear only to have made it harder to find her sweet spot. Ferrari, meanwhile, look much stronger and more confident than they did when things fell apart at the end of 2017, and even though Mercedes took the lead in the constructor’s table by a point from Ferrari on Sunday, the red car is the new favourite.

“I definitely felt like I was on top of my A-game this weekend,” Hamilton said when asked to explain what had gone so awry. “I came prepared exactly the same as always, I just struggled with the car. Rather than blame it on weather or strategy, or anything else, I was just uncomfortable in the car this weekend; well, on Saturday and Sunday. To not have the pace level that I normally have, I’ve got to take it upon myself to try and figure it out and move forward. But, of course, it’s been a joint effort, but definitely on my side we struggled more.

“It’s just that we lacked pace from Saturday onwards. So, everything was good on Friday and the car kind of turned upside down yesterday and it’s been the same today. It was very unstable. Doesn’t turn in well to a lot of corners, so there’s a lot of performance we lost today.”

While Hamilton’s detractors will enjoy their moments of schadenfreude, his tribulations are making this a great battle for the championship, with Vettel taking the first two races and then Ricciardo bursting through in his own inimitable style to grab the sixth victory of his career on Sunday.

The Australian isn’t quite as quick in qualifying, but he is a brilliant racer who makes far fewer mistakes than his team-mate Max Verstappen, who is still learning that sometimes less is more. Like the late Gilles Villeneuve, the Dutchman always wants to win and to drive at the limit, and that’s another element that is making 2018 such an exciting great year. His time will come.

Ricciardo, meanwhile, could barely have found a better time to strike, as his contract negotiations for 2019 continue.

Way back, they used to say of the legendary Stirling Moss that he was the man who made the impossible, possible. These days, that’s a mantle which sits well on Ricciardo’s shoulders. He has impeccable timing and is one of, if not the, best overtakers in the business. He has the judgement to see an opportunity developing and then to snatch it without making contact with rivals. Sure, Valtteri Bottas had to open up his line in Turn 6, just as Lewis Hamilton had to in Turn 14, but forcing rivals to have to do that, without contact, is all part of racing. And, right now that’s the major difference between Ricciardo and Verstappen. Ricciardo can do it instinctively, Verstappen is still learning which gaps to take and which to resist. That is always, at best, a very, very close decision to have to make.

“I’m sitting here, reciting everything in my head, what just happened,” Ricciardo said with that famous toothy smile. “I’ve only got six [wins], it’s not a whole lot, but they seem to come under always some circumstances…”

They do, and that’s because Red Bull always seems to be recovering from disadvantages in qualifying associated with their Renault power units, which Mercedes and Ferrari don’t have, and because when the chips are down and there’s a chance, nobody in the business is better than him at grabbing an opportunity, and making the most of it with style.

As he said of his pass on Hamilton, “sometimes you just have to lick the stamp and post it”.

Magic, and an indication of the fun that lies ahead now that we have a three-way fight for victories.