Gasly blames Hamilton for damage that wrecked his Abu Dhabi GP 

Gasly and Hamilton came to blows when the Alpine driver, who was running ahead and inside the points, locked up into Turn 6. 

Seven-time world champion Hamilton was seemingly caught out by Gasly’s issue and tagged the back of his car, losing the front endplate on his Mercedes in the process. 

But Gasly came off much worse, with the contact destroying the Frenchman’s diffuser and ultimately ruining his hopes of rounding out the season with a points finish. 

“It wasn’t my day,” he said. “I think most of the damage was done when Lewis just came at the back of my car and just destroyed the whole diffuser at the back of it.

“I braked late. I was surprised that he went even, I think he would have gone straight if I wasn’t there. 

“I started to have a bit of front graining, I locked up a bit but still made the corner. And I think he just missed the braking point and then basically ran at the back of my car.

“It was quite an impact. It was enough to just break and lose some part of the diffuser. So not great.”

Hamilton ultimately went on to take ninth, while Gasly finished 13th, one place behind teammate Esteban Ocon. 

Asked for his view on the decision not to penalise Hamilton, Gasly replied: “I mean it’s harsh, because on one side it makes me lose 15, 20 seconds of race time. Nothing of my control.

“So on one side, it’s harsh. On another side, [he] made a mistake and came in the back of my car. So it’s a tough one to say, but for sure it clearly cost me quite a lot today.”