Hamilton vows to beat Vettel ‘the right way’
LONDON: Lewis Hamilton accused Formula One title rival Sebastian Vettel of showing signs of weakness and vowed to win this year’s championship ‘the right way’.
The two clashed in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the FIA, motor sport’s governing body, is under pressure to sanction Vettel after he deliberately drove into Hamilton at Baku City Circuit.
The sporting federation was unavailable for comment when contacted by Press Association Sport on Monday, while Liberty Media, Formula One’s new American owners, distanced themselves from the incident.
Vettel was penalised with a 10second stop-and-go penalty after he banged wheels with Hamilton. He believed the Briton had deliberately brake-tested him during one of three safety car periods.
Telemetry from Hamilton’s Mercedes proved that the 32year-old Englishman had not been acting in an unusual manner prior to the collision, and asked if he felt his Ferrari rival was demonstrating mental weakness, he said: “That’s been kind of obvious for some time.
“You look at last year and some of the things he’s come and said on the radio. We know how he can be.
“I honestly would never have thought that would have happened, but we can only look at that as a positive for us.
“We’ve put a lot of pressure on Ferrari. He’s under pressure and that’s not a bad thing. That shows that often pressure can get to even some of the best of us.”
Hamilton’s rivalry with Vettel this season had been noted for its cordiality, but that changed in an instant in the eighth race of the season.
Hamilton fell 14 points behind the German in the title race after his headset worked its way loose and forced him into an unscheduled pit stop, and the Mercedes driver said: “(This) was obviously a different Sebastian than we saw in those seven races, and I like to think that I remained respectful.
“I will continue to do so and I want to do the talking on the track. I want to win this championship the right way.”