Vettel on Hamilton incident: I didn’t see him

Shahida Jacobs
Sebastian Vettel Lewis Hamilton

“There was no intention to push” Lewis Hamilton at the start of the Mexican Grand Prix, says Sebastian Vettel.

The Ferraris got away cleanly as pole-sitter Charles Leclerc found himself ahead of Vettel going into Turn 1, but things got a bit heated at the corner as Hamilton caught up and found himself on the rear of the German’s car.

Vettel ended up squeezing the Mercedes driver, who backed off to avoid a “big collision”.

Four-time World Champion Vettel admitted after the race that there is “a lot of guessing” going on at the start of a grand prix.

“I think the blind spot is as old as the invention of the mirror, so not sure we can do much about that,” the German is quoted as saying by Autosport.com. “I think obviously on the first lap a lot of it is guessing where the other people are. Especially when you go into corners.

“Most of the time we see it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. I think we all try to do our best. We know we can’t win the race in the first corner but we can lose it.

“I don’t think you can do much about it.”

As for the Hamilton incident, he added: “I didn’t see him. He came after the race as well and asked, but [there was] no intention to push him or anything.

“Obviously, as soon as I saw, I got off and I tried to get in Charles’ tow and I checked the mirrors on the right and the mirrors on the left and that’s when I saw Lewis and then, you know, I tried to go right but before that point I didn’t see him.

“We see quite well in the mirrors but there is still obviously an angle that you can’t see.”

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