Hamilton grateful for rival’s errors

Lewis Hamilton has admitted he is grateful that Sebastian Vettel’s weaknesses have been exposed this season in the wake of the Ferrari driver’s catastrophic crash in Singapore.

Hamilton moved 28 points clear of his championship rival after Vettel was involved in a three-way pile-up at the opening corner of last Sunday’s rain-hit race.

The stewards took no action against Vettel despite the majority of the paddock in agreement that he had been at fault for the collision with his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

The 30-year-old German apologised on a number occasions to his Ferrari team over the radio in the aftermath of the accident.

Hamilton, who started only fifth, went on to win under the lights to claim this third victory in as many races, and move comfortably clear of his chief protagonist with just six rounds of this year’s title race remaining.

“Ultimately I think it’s important to respect people that you’re competing with,” Hamilton said.

“Sebastian’s an incredible athlete and truly one of the best drivers we’ve seen in the sport.

“But it is great to have seen some of the weaknesses this year and I’m grateful for his recent one. You want to win because you’re the best, and you’ve worked the hardest.”

Meanwhile the Englishman, who earlier this month surpassed Michael Schumacher’s all-time pole position record, insists he has no plans to walk away from F1 in the immediate future.

Indeed Hamilton is likely to put pen to paper on a new deal at Mercedes which will see him remain with the team until the end of the 2020 campaign.

“There’s been talks about me retiring but then we’re in the heat of this battle right now and I’m loving it more than ever,” he said.