18/09/2017
NEWS STORY
Enjoying a 28-point lead following yesterday's start-line clash that eliminated his title rival, rather than settling back and allowing himself a certain degree of schadenfreude, Lewis Hamilton has empathised with Sebastian Vettel.
Speaking after the race, the Briton admitted that Vettel most likely didn't see Max Verstappen in his mirrors, far less teammate Kimi Raikkonen following his brilliant start, and was therefore unsighted.
"Often, when you look at my last start at Monza, when you pull away, you can't actually see the guy who's in second place," he told reporters. "They're generally in your blind spot if they get as good a start as you, and it's difficult to know where they are.
"So your immediate thought is to cover your ground, get to the inside and cover and turn them down," he continued, "so I assume that's what he did.
"When you do that, all of a sudden they appear in your mirror so you can understand where they are, or if they are in your peripheral view, but sometimes you do it and you realise you're ahead so you actually didn't need to. I don't know if Sebastian felt that way or not. I was only focused on trying to get away faster than Daniel."
Of course, the fly in the ointment, was Raikkonen, who made a devastating start and was looking good to lead the field into the first corner.
"I saw Kimi," said Hamilton, "so I was just keeping an eye on what was happening on my left side and if some drama was going to happen I was just going to have to go straight at turn one and not get collected, which I was conscious of."
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