Vettel: “I did Hamilton a favour in Spain”

Sebastian Vettel reckons he helped Lewis Hamilton set up the victory in Spain on Sunday. Hamilton hit back at emphatic style on race day to claim his third win of the season, as Mercedes stretched their recent record of consecutive one-two finishes to an incredible five. The Mercedes duo were joined by Max Verstappen from Red Bull with the Ferrari pair Vettel and Charles Leclerc fourth and fifth. “I wanted to brake latest – which I think I did,” the Ferrari driver explained to Autosport. “Obviously Valtteri was also quite late and I could not really get in, and I couldn’t see him so I knew he was there. I saw that he was also braking quite late and if I just turned in, which I think I could have managed, then he would have had nowhere to go and I would go the other way. It didn’t work. “In the end, obviously I did Lewis favour because I distracted Valtteri. It was clear that I couldn’t win the race at the first corner but I saw there was something to try. I tried and it didn’t work, but I was hoping I could maybe mix things up a little bit for my sake and your sake!”

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