15/04/2018
NEWS STORY
Sebastian Vettel has admitted to being impressed by Max Verstappen's apology for the incident that ended any hope of a podium finish for the German and resulted in a 10s penalty for the Red Bull star.
Shortly after the race, the pair were seen in earnest conversation, and four-time champ Vettel later revealed that the youngster had apologised for the race-changing incident.
"He came up straight after. He realised that he did a mistake," Vettel told reporters. "I said to him 'look, the races are long and you threw your podium away'.
"He was lucky to continue, I was lucky to continue, but it was not necessary," he added. "I think he got it. He was quite composed and realised that he messed up.
"People were asking if it was a question of age, but it's not. He's done so many races," said the German. "We had a bit of tailwind the whole race and after 41 laps you know that it's tricky to stop the car there. But it happens.
"I appreciate the fact that he came to me straight away. I told him that was the way to solve it, face to face and not through the media or blowing something up."
Referring to an unpredictable race which saw his championship lead cut to 9 points, Vettel said: "It was clear that the Red Bulls were faster. The way Daniel approached from behind there was no point to resist much and the same with Max.
"I think he had a bad exit onto the straight, otherwise I was just ready to let him go. He wasn't there, so then you stay in front. I gave a bit of room just in case he had a tiny lock-up and then obviously he had a big lock-up. That's when we crashed.
"I think in a way I'm lucky that I got to the end of it," he admitted. "After a collision like that we might've stopped there. The lucky thing was the car was still working.
"Obviously the floor was damaged and the balance was gone. The car wasn't the same after that it had a lot of understeer."
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