F1 News: Lewis Hamilton Accepts Baku Win, Admits Bottas Was Deserved Winner

Lewis Hamilton took the unlikeliest of victories at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday after the British driver looked completely out of it for most part of the race with Sebastian Vettel leading for the first 30 laps.

The Briton was gifted the win after Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was leading the race with two laps to go, suffered a puncture. It was Hamilton’s first win of the season, which also sees him move ahead of the Ferrari driver in the Drivers’ championship.

The four-time world champion was not in contention at any point during the race having struggled to get the best out of the tires, while his teammate remained calm and came into contention later in the race when the safety car was deployed.

Bottas looked favorite to take the win when the race re-started with just three laps to go, but the Finn ran over some debris, which resulted in a tire puncture to leave him distraught. Hamilton accepted the win, but made it clear that his teammate was the deserved winner.

"He has been driving exceptionally well and he did the better job and deserved the win but circumstances prevented that,” Hamilton said after winning in Baku on Sunday, as quoted by BBC Sport. "I have to be grateful on one side. I will take it and harness it and try to propel it forwards to the next race."

The reigning champion is not having the season many predicted after the pre-season tests in March. It was Mercedes’ first win of the season, and it was all down to luck being on their side as they were outpaced by Ferrari throughout the weekend — in qualifying and the race.

Hamilton admitted that the win would not have been possible without Bottas suffering a tire puncture and Vettel running wide at the re-start. But he is looking forward to taking the momentum and getting over his recent struggles when the season resumes on May 13 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain.

"It is a day I am grateful for and I honestly don't feel I'm not at my best, I am just really struggling with the car," the Briton added. "That brings the ultimate performance down and I have to work hard to try to understand that. It is not like I have never been there before. There was a crucial point where the win was up for grabs and Sebastian made a mistake and I am really grateful I was able to get by him."

Vettel, meanwhile, was not too dejected after what looked like a routine victory ended in fourth place. The German led the race for the first 30 laps before his first pit stop and was then trailing Bottas, who was yet to stop.

The safety car with ten laps remaining was crucial in changing the outcome of the race. It allowed Bottas to make his first stop with the other cars slowing down for the designated speed and emerge ahead of Vettel.

The Ferrari driver made a move to re-take the lead when the race re-started, but ran wide in Turn 1, which saw him drop to fourth with Hamilton and teammate Kimi Raikkonen passing him. A lap later he was down to fifth after Sergio Perez in the Force India passed him on the straight.

The Ferrari driver moved up a place in the standings after Bottas’ retirement and was not too dejected as he feels the move at the re-start would have been justified had he pulled it off. Vettel believes Ferrari can still take a lot of positives as the race proved they genuinely have a quick car going into the remainder of the campaign.

"Without the (final) safety car it would have been a different race. We had a decent restart. I saw a gap on then inside and unfortunately I locked up,” Vettel said. "Without the lock-up, I make the first corner and it looks like a good move. I had to try, I tried and it didn't work.”

“I can't let one and half to two seconds of the race have a shame on all the race because there were a lot of positives. The most important thing is we have a good car, a car we can work with in qualifying. If we put it in the front, we can fight for wins,” he added.