Drivers’ championship leader Sebastian Vettel had inherited the lead from Hamilton and kept it until 10 laps from the end, but the German then suffered a complete engine failure and ground to a halt on the start-finish straight.
It was Vettel’s first retirement since the European Grand Prix last year, but that twist was overshadowed by the incredible sequence of blow-outs around the time of the first scheduled pit stops: Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Jean-Eric Vergne all suffered spectacular back-left tyre failure within a few minutes of each other between laps nine and 15.
All three were able to rejoin the race, but the incident cost Hamilton what had looked like a likely victory as he showed outstanding pace. Mercedes chief Ross Brawn confirmed later that Hamilton had driven on despite significant damage to his car, and he drove brilliantly to finish in fourth place just six tenths behind Alonso.
Sergio Perez suffered a similar blow-out later in the race – as he had in practice – but his McLaren was too badly damaged to continue.
The pressure will now be on Pirelli and the teams to try and fix the problems with this season’s tyres before the race in Germany next weekend.
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