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Sebastian Vettel says that a tiny lock-up allowed Lewis Hamilton to re-overtake him for second place during the Russian Grand Prix. Vettel got past his championship rival during the pit-stop phase of the race, stopping one lap before the Mercedes driver.
Hamilton re-emerged behind Vettel but gained on him before Vettel made a "tiny lock-up " which compromised his run through the final sector. Hamilton tried to pass at Turn 2 but failed, before sending his Mercedes up the inside of Vettel at Turn 4 and completing the move.
"I mean, obviously Valtteri, as soon as he saw I was behind, he backed off,” Vettel said after the race. “I lost one and half seconds just to make me probably run into him but I didn’t mind because I thought I could sneak DRS.
“But, I had a tiny lock-up there [Turn 12] and then the last two corners were particularly difficult. Lewis was close and he was on really new tyres, whereas mine were just a lap old but not new.”
Speaking about his battle with Hamilton, Vettel said: "We surprised them with a very good outlap. We managed to surprise Lewis but then Valtteri was backing off and we struggled a bit in the last sector so Lewis was close.
“Then he had a run into Turn 2. I managed to cover but then I didn’t see him through the left-hander [Turn 3], I wasn’t really sure where he was. I saw that he was somewhere on the outside but then I think you also need to be fair enough and give room, even if I didn’t want to, to make sure it remains hard but fair.”
Vettel now trails Hamilton by 50 points in the championship and has not won a race since the Belgian Grand Prix. Hamilton recorded his third victory in a row, which is his first hat-trick of the season.
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Replies (3)
Login to replymcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Leclerc and Max kept racing alive, on otherwise boring race. Vettel has blew it for the season.
f1ski
Posts: 726
he blew it in germany. he is now afraid to race hard for fear of falling further behind.once again ferrari has done something to the car at seasons end to mess up the cars overall pace. Too much down force? saving the engine?
F1_IS_Dead
Posts: 123
They were probably (quietly) asked by the FIA to disable some of their cheats.