02/09/2018
NEWS STORY
Speaking in the wake of today's Italian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel blamed Lewis Hamilton for the first lap clash which saw the two touch, causing damage to the Ferrari and necessitating an early pit stop for a new nose.
"Lewis obviously saw a little gap around the outside," he told Sky Sports F1. "But then he didn't leave me any space and I had no other choice than to run into him and make contact.
"I tried to obviously get out of there but I couldn't," the German continued. "Unfortunately I was the one that spun around, which was a bit ironic. But it was that way."
In the eyes of many it was in fact the German who made the mistake, 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg initially claiming the incident was "100% Vettel's fault". Following a subsequent replay, the former Mercedes driver, and no fan of Hamilton, said it was actually "110% Vettel's fault".
"When you're looking the wrong way, things do not look too peachy," said Vettel. "But from there I think I drove well and tried to recover. We still got a lot of points so it could have been a lot worse today.
"Obviously it doesn't help when you lose points," he admitted, "but it's not the end of the world. We'll all still wake up tomorrow morning. For sure, I'm down at the moment but mostly for the people. Their support has been incredible. Unfortunately we didn't deliver.
"But then what can you do when if get spun round? It could have been a good race, but it wasn't. It was still very entertaining, probably more entertaining that way, but not very satisfying."
Asked about the thirty point deficit to Hamilton, he said: "I'm not too worried. I think we have the pace. The points sound a lot but actually it doesn't take a long time to get them down."
Following a second stop for fresh rubber the German finished fifth on the road but inherited 4th following the time penalty meted out to Max Verstappen following his clash with Valtteri Bottas.