Hamilton: Vettel nearly caused “big collision” at start

Lewis Hamilton believes he and Sebastian Vettel were lucky to avoid a “big collision” at the start of Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix.

A good launch from third on the grid enabled Hamilton to gain on the front-row starting Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel, but the Mercedes driver was squeezed out onto the grass by Vettel.

Hamilton lost momentum and found himself coming under attack from Red Bull's Max Verstappen, before the pair made slight contact and lost ground as they skipped Turn 2 to avoid further drama.

Despite dropping back as low as fifth, Hamilton was able to perfect a one-stop strategy and claim a brilliant and unexpected victory for Mercedes in Mexico City, beating Vettel by 1.7s.

“I actually got a really good start,” Hamilton explained.

“I was pulling up to Charles [Leclerc] and Seb is coming across, coming across, coming across and I’m thinking ‘I’m on the white line, I don’t have anywhere further to go’.

“And he just keeps coming. So I had to avoid crashing with him, going on the grass. Avoid his wheels as well, otherwise I could have caused a big collision for him.

“Then I was surrounded by a bunch of cars, I braked into Turn 1, and all of a sudden Max [Verstappen] is alongside me.

“If you’ve seen races before, I always leave Max a lot of space – it’s the smartest thing you can do.

“But there wasn’t a lot of space to give him space. I think he had an oversteer moment or something and then I got a massive hit from behind.

“Then I nearly took [Vettel] out. My back end came out and went straight on the grass. It was hair-raising.”

Vettel claimed he could not see Hamilton in his mirrors, while Mercedes boss Toto Wolff praised the way his driver is able to get himself out of potentially race-ending accidents.

“I think this is clearly something that is a combination of talent and learning and experience, that his racing is really great,” Wolff said.

“On a few occasions, he took himself out of what could have been a race-ending situation, with Sebastian where he avoided contact miraculously [in Canada], then contact here with Seb on the straight.

“And then again just a few seconds later being side-by-side with Max through Turn 2 and 3. He seems to have this great ability to put the car in the right place.”