Sebastian Vettel believes that he did Lewis Hamilton a favour at turn one by distracting Valtteri Bottas, allowing Hamilton to take the lead.
The slow starting Bottas was directly in front of Vettel when the German pulled to the outside, sandwiching Bottas with Hamilton on the inside, and Vettel believes this is what distracted Bottas enough to let his teammate past.
Vettel explained the incident to Autosport after the race: “I wanted to brake latest – which I think I did.
“Obviously Valtteri was also quite late and I could not really get in, and I couldn’t see him so I knew he was there.
“I saw that he was also braking quite late and if I just turned in, which I think I could have managed, then he would have had nowhere to go and I would go the other way. It didn’t work.
“In the end, obviously I did Lewis a favour because I distracted Valtteri.
“It was clear that I couldn’t win the race at the first corner but I saw there was something to try.
“I tried and it didn’t work, but I was hoping I could maybe mix things up a little bit for my sake and your sake!”