Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he spoke to Sebastian Vettel following their Azerbaijan Grand Prix clash, and warned the German not to disrespect him again otherwise it would cause a problem between them.
Hamilton was leading the race when the safety car was called, and Vettel, in second, ran into the back of his rival as the Briton slowed to create a gap to the safety car ahead of the restart.
Vettel, believing Hamilton had brake tested him – although data showed otherwise – pulled alongside the Mercedes and steered into his rival, forcing minor wheel-to-wheel contact.
Vettel was handed a drive-through penalty which cost him the race victory as Hamilton was later forced to pit from the lead with a loose headrest. They finished fourth and fifth respectively with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo claiming the win.
Hamilton, speaking to The Flying Lap's Peter Windsor, revealed that he approached Vettel over the clash and warned him against repeating the move in future.
"When I spoke to him later, I was like ‘that’s a sign of disrespect, so don’t ever disrespect me like that again otherwise then we will have problems’.
"I’ve never done that to someone. I don’t even know what he was thinking to have done… I've never been in a position like that.
"I guess people react differently under certain pressures," added Hamilton. "I think there’s different ways in which you can handle things,"
Vettel was forced to issue an apology to Hamilton and the FIA and escaped further punishment despite FIA president Jean Todt forcing a retrospective investigation into the incident.
"I knew what I was there to do and I wasn't going to let anything distract me from doing that.
"I wasn’t going to let myself say something or react in a way that’s going to cause some negative swirl which is going to steer me off course from my ultimate goal.
"And naturally, with the experience you learn to just compartmentalise all those different things."
