Lewis Hamilton Defends Sebastian Vettel Over French GP Crash With Valtteri Bottas

Lewis Hamilton defended title rival Sebastian Vettel when questioned about the Ferrari driver’s penalty after he collided with Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas on the opening lap at the French Grand Prix last Sunday.

The German driver needed a front wing change, while Bottas suffered a tire puncture after which both drivers dropped to the bottom of the grid. Moreover, Vettel was handed a five second time penalty, which he served during his stop.

The Ferrari driver came out of his stop in 17th place but fought his way up the grid and eventually finished in fifth place, while Bottas for no fault of his ended up two places back in seventh place.

After the race, Hamilton openly questioned the leniency of the penalty after his title rival had ruined his teammate’s race, but refused to criticize his fellow four-time world champion. The British driver also admitted that the stewards, who decide the penalties, have a difficult job, but still maintained that it was probably a more lenient punishment than expected for the damage it caused.

The Mercedes driver was again questioned about Vettel’s penalty, and again defended the Ferrari driver, suggesting that a single fault from one of the most successful drivers on the grid does not warrant everyone talking “negative” and believes everyone concerned has moved on from the incident.

"I already spoke about that after the race and I don't feel like Sebastian needs criticizing," Hamilton said on Thursday ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, as quoted by Sky Sports.

"He's a four-time world champion. He's won more than most. One single fault for many of us and people jump on the bandwagon and love to talk negative about someone.

"Ultimately, it's a strange scenario where a split-second decision can have the result that it did, yet a penalty of five seconds doesn't appear to be significant enough. But that is the rule and it is a penalty nonetheless,” the four-time F1 Drivers’ world champion added.

“He served it and moved on. It is already a penalty when you get hit at Turn One and have to trundle round and come back in and do a pit stop and work your way from the back. It's a difficult job that the stewards have."

Vettel’s fifth place finish at the French Grand Prix and Hamilton cruising to his third victory of the season saw him retake the lead in the Drivers’ championship. The Mercedes driver now leads the German by 14 points going into the ninth race of the season at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Hamilton was happy to take the lead in the title race, but admitted that his focus is still not on that entirely, especially since there are 12 races more to run and a number of points up for grabs.