Hamilton takes one for the team
Lewis Hamilton let his heart rule his head in a remarkable moment of sportsmanship at the Hungarian Grand Prix which could ultimately cost him the championship.
As Sebastian Vettel took the chequered flag at the Hungaroring to claim his fourth victory of the season, his chief title rival was selflessly surrendering back the final spot on the podium to his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Bottas had earlier been ordered aside by Mercedes so Hamilton could take the challenge to the Ferrari duo of Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen at a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult.
But Hamilton, who said he would give the place back to team-mate Bottas should he fail in his pursuit of the Ferrari duo, remained true to his word, and pulled aside on the final corner of the final lap.
After moving seven seconds clear of Bottas, and with an eye on the championship, Hamilton might have been forgiven for holding position. However, the 32-year-old, unlike many before him, has not been known for diverting to the dark arts in his decade-long career, and he was not ready to start here.
Instead Hamilton vowed to win this year’s championship battle the right way.
He would have been 11 points behind Vettel had he remained in third. His glowing sporting gesture, however, means he will now head into the sport’s summer shutdown 14 points adrift of his rival.
“The mind is more cutthroat and every point counts, and it’s do-or-die,” Hamilton said. “The heart told me that the right thing to do was to let Valtteri past.
“I want to win the championship the right way, and I don’t know whether that will come back to bite me on the backside or not. But I said at the beginning of the year I want to win it the right way, and I do think today was the right way to do things.
“It hopefully shows that I am a man of my word, and also that I am a team player.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “It cost us three points and it could cost us the championship. Saying I wouldn’t regret the decision would be very naive.”