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Hamilton praises Leclerc performance: "You did amazing this weekend"

19:05, 31 Mar 2019

byJake Williams-Smith

Lewis Hamilton has given words of encouragement to Charles Leclerc after the Ferrari driver suffered late-race issues, robbing him of the race victory in Bahrain.

The Monegasque driver hadn't placed a single foot wrong all weekend and had a 10 second lead over the Mercedes driver but a huge loss of power late in the race cost Leclerc a race win.

In the cooldown room after the race, Hamilton consoled the 21-year-old having been so close to his first-ever Formula 1 race win.

"You did amazing this weekend, you really did. I know it sucks right now but you've got a long career ahead of you," Hamilton told Leclerc.

Speaking in the pitlane after the race, Hamilton reflected on a difficult race for Mercedes but highlighted his battle with Sebastian Vettel as key in his race to first.

"Today was a really really hard job. This weekend the Ferrari has been incredible and Charles [Leclerc] did such a great job, I'm sure it's a devastating result for him as he did the job to win the race.

"It was a really, really hard race today. Charles did such a great job so it must be devastating for him. The fight with Vettel was great fun for me."

Hamilton trails his Mercedes teammate in the drivers' championship by a single point as F1 heads to Shanghai for the 1000th Formula 1 race.