Hamilton denies holding Vettel up at the Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has denied holding up Sebastian Vettel at the Australian Grand Prix in order to help Max Verstappen overtake the German, preferring to focus on his own race and doing his job.

The Brit came second at the Albert Park race with Verstappen third after he managed to overtake Vettel’s Ferrari. The Dutch driver finished just behind Hamilton after it was revealed the five-time World Champion sustained floor damage, which compromised his racing speed.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix Hamilton denied his intentions were to hold anyone up saying: “I never ever plan to hold anybody up.

“I just focussed on doing my job, and wasn’t thinking at all about his race.

“I naturally wanted to keep him behind, but I knew that I had a long, long way to go.

“He stopped a lap before me so I knew that we’d both be in a similar boat towards the end.

“I was thinking a bit more long term so that I could defend to up and coming cars towards the end of the race, which I’m not sure he really thought of, because his tyres went off quite drastically at the end,” Hamilton added.