I Was Ahead of Bottas: Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel has said that he cannot blame Valtteri Bottas for the contact in Hungary. The incident occurred when Vettel was trying to pass the Finn for second place. Vettel dived down the inside of Bottas at the first corner with five laps to go. However, the Mercedes driver was not giving up without a fight. At Turn 2, he locked up and hit the rear of the Ferrari.

The 28-year old wrecked his front wing in the incident and dropped to fifth. But not before tangling with Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull in a later incident. Meanwhile Vettel escaped unscathed somehow and finished second.

Hel said that he was suddenly hit from behind by the Finnish Mercedes driver. The German was lucky to not be overtaken by team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. When the contact was made, Raikkonen got the best seat in the house, right behind them on track.

“For him [Bottas] there wasn’t anywhere to go, I was ahead. I don’t blame him – I think he had no grip and when you’re so close it’s very difficult to stop the car and I think he locked up and we made contact.”, he said.

Vettel had been hunting down Bottas on fresh ultrasofts, while Valtteri was trying to survive. Oddly enough, Mercedes opted to put him on a one-stop strategy, having pitted early to switch to softs.

Sebastian knew that he had a much better run and time was running out. His rear tyres were in better shape and he dove down the inside of Turn 1 and picked up the DRS. He admitted that he felt comfortable into Turn 2 knowing that it was a matter of time.

Fortunately, Vettel’s second place minimised the damage in the championship. Meanwhile, main rival and points leader Lewis Hamilton claimed a comfortable victory. Vettel is now 24 points adrift but he confesses that the result could have been worse.