Hamilton ‘would have struggled’ to hold off Seb

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Lewis Hamilton 'would have struggled' to hold off Sebastian Vettel

Lewis Hamilton 'would have struggled' to hold off Sebastian Vettel

Lewis Hamilton admits Valtteri Bottas played a big role in his Hungarian GP win as without his team-mate, Sebastian Vettel would have probably caught him.

Hamilton led Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix as he made the most of his pole position to run P1 ahead of his Mercedes team-mate.

The Brit built up a lead as Bottas played the role of “wingman” especially in the latter part of the grand prix when he kept both Ferraris at bay.

Hamilton won the grand prix to extend his lead in the championship to 24 points.

It could, however, have been a very different story if Vettel had come out ahead of Bottas after his pit stop.

“If he had come out ahead of Valtteri, it would have been very, very hard,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“He would have probably caught me with five laps to go.

“Would I have been able to keep him behind? I would have struggled.”

Vettel, though, has a different view on things as while he feels he could have caught Hamilton, he concedes that passing the Brit would have been a great deal more difficult.

“I think Lewis had a lot in hand,” Vettel said.

“We could have probably caught him but not passed him.

“You saw in the end that I was a lot of faster than Valtteri but initially I couldn’t make it so I sat back and waited for the last 10 laps.”

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