Hamilton delayed Azerbaijan GP celebrations to console Bottas

Azerbaijan Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton said he was late to the Baku podium because he went to comfort his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and tell him he deserved the victory. 

Having struggled to keep up with Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari during the opening stint, Hamilton found himself in third behind the German and new race-leader Bottas after all three drivers pitted for fresh Pirelli tyres under the Safety Car following Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen’s collision.

Hamilton gained one position when Vettel ran wide at Turn 1 in his attempts to reclaim the lead from Bottas at the restart, before Bottas retired with just three laps remaining after picking up a rear-right puncture, handing the reigning world champion a dramatic first win of 2018. 

“It’s mixed emotions. It feels odd, but I’m going to take it,” Hamilton told Channel 4. “There’s been days where we’ve done everything we needed, like last year for example, and we didn’t win, and there’s been many races where I’ve been leading and it’s been taken away from me. 

“Valtteri did such an exceptional job today and really deserved to have the win. I think it was really, really fortunate today. The reason I was late for the podium was because I ran back to see Valtteri.

“I really wanted to congratulate him because it’s hard when you have a day like this, your gut sinks and you feel the worst. So I thought I can be a good teammate to try and lift him up and say ‘you did an exceptional job’, it’s an act of respect.” 

Hamilton’s surprise victory, coupled with a fourth-place finish for Vettel, means the Briton has taken a four-point lead in the drivers’ world championship standings.

But Hamilton admits he was fortunate to win in Baku after struggling throughout the weekend, adding he has improvements to make in time for the Spanish Grand Prix. 

“I’m very internal with the feelings in my performance. You have weekends where you didn’t leave anything on the table and you go away happy and there’s other weekend’s where you feel a little bit left there, and that’s what I felt today.

“I struggled with getting the tyres into the working window. So I’m just grateful and I know that I have a lot of work to do between now and the next race. But you can’t always be perfect and the great thing is I can improve, that’s my goal.”