“I had a good start to get up alongside Valtteri and we both understeered into the first corner. I tried to obviously give as much room as possible. Then he was in my blind spot so I didn’t know where he was after that. So, I moved wide to the outside, he came back and did an amazing job. I remember coming out of that corner thinking ‘good on you, I’m impressed, that was good’.”
Lewis Hamilton knew he had a fight on his hands on Sunday when Valtteri Bottas dug his heels in for what feels like the first time against his team-mate. The Finn had already prevented him from matching Michael Schumacher’s record of Formula 1 victories a fortnight ago, but on this occasion it would turn out that Bottas’ bark was worse than his bite.
As Bottas led the early laps, Hamilton was able to stay within 1.5 seconds and keep the pressure on, all the while putting enough of a gap – never more than two seconds but always bigger than the one in front – to Max Verstappen behind him.
