Lewis Hamilton quipped that his “heart was in my mouth” when he was briefly caught by Max Verstappen as the pair lapped rivals at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Hamilton had opened a three-second advantage over Verstappen mid-race but that advantage was whittled away when he was stuck behind the battling Romain Grosjean and Sergey Sirotkin.
Hamilton and Verstappen rounded Turn 9 almost nose-to-tail and the Briton moved to the inside to preserve his position, before picking off Grosjean and Sirotkin, who were later penalised for ignoring blue flags.
The Mercedes driver quickly re-established a comfortable buffer – with Grosjean compromising Verstappen through Turn 14 – and went on to chalk up his seventh win of 2018.
“I was a little bit unlucky with the traffic,” said Hamilton.
“These guys were moving around, it was quite difficult to follow. I think Max was a little bit luckier getting by some of the guys in terms of what point on the track and the guys weren’t letting me by.
“Jeez, it was definitely close and my heart was definitely in my mouth for a minute
“So when Max was right behind, I had to go on the defensive, and I thought to myself "Bro, you're not getting by – not today!"
Hamilton’s win enabled him to grow his title lead to 40 points over Sebastian Vettel, who placed third, with just six Grands Prix remaining.
“I came here knowing that Singapore is a hard one for us,” he said.
“But I'm always optimistic, thinking that if we're really diligent and do our work, we can create some chances.
“Then Friday was already a good day for us. Saturday didn't start off well, but then all of the sudden that special lap came in.
“Knowing that we would start on pole, I knew that it was a great opportunity for us to capitalise on. I had a great start and from then I was able to manage it.
“It was physically such a demanding race, so I'm relieved that it's over now – it felt like such a long night, but I'm super grateful for the result.”
