Lewis Hamilton would have done the same as Sebastian Vettel in Canada

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton would have done the same as Vettel in Canada

Does he agree with the penalty?

Matthew Scott

Monday 10 June 2019 10:20

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Lewis Hamilton says he would have done exactly the same as Sebastian Vettel did in the moment which saw the Ferrari man handed a penalty to cost him victory of the Canadian Grand Prix. Hamilton was handed the race victory after Vettel was penalised for re-joining the track unsafely in front of the Mercedes.

Ferrari have signalled their intention to appeal the decision made by race stewards in Montreal, with an overwhelmingly negative reaction to it perhaps convincing them to do so.

Vettel lashed out at the decision constantly post-race, and displayed his dissatisfaction by placing the P2 banner in front of Hamilton's car in parc ferme.

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Hamilton said had he been trying to fight his way back onto the track, he too would have done as Vettel did.

He said: "I watched the replays. It's obviously very close.

"What I can say is if I was in the lead and I made a mistake and went wide, I probably would have done the same thing.

"It happens so quick, and you're just trying to hold position. And when I say I'd do the same, I would have tried to squeeze him too."

However, Hamilton was clear that was not completely sympathetic of Vettel's argument, believing the German's penalty was deserved.

"Regarding the rules, say you didn't have that rule, I would have kept it lit, and we would have crashed," he said. "One way or not it was going to go badly.

"Usually the first instinct is often the right one, I would say.

"When I watched the replay and had a look at my data I had to brake at the exit of Turn 4.

"There was a hazard there, and if I had not done that, we would have crashed. I don't feel any different about that.

"The thing is from a driver's point of view you know how it goes. It's different when you're watching as a viewer, but as a driver things go wrong, and it's 'shoot!' - you try and squeeze so that you don't lose position.

"It's a natural instinct that we have. You're not going to go, 'actually I'm going to pull to the left and let them bloody go by.'

"He did block me, but unfortunately he went off track, and the way the rules are written, that's how it's prescribed."