Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he warned off Sebastian Vettel in no uncertain terms after the pair clashed in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Vettel believed that Hamilton had 'brake tested' him while they were leading the Baku race behind a safety car. He then pulled alongside the Mercedes and bumped wheels to remonstrate before the restart.
“I wouldn't do that to someone. I’ve never done that to someone," Hamilton said in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.tv's The Flying Lap this week.
"I don’t even know what he was thinking to have done, you know, been in a position like that."
Vettel's hot-tempered spur-of-the moment reaction had been a surprise not only to Hamilton, but to everyone watching at the time.
“I guess people react differently under certain pressures," said the Briton.
Initially, Hamilton's response over the team radio to Vettel's actions was surprisingly low-key in the circumstances.
"Honestly in the race I was not phased at all. I was kind of like, 'What the hell is he doing?'
"I wasn’t going to let myself say something or react in a way that’s going to cause some negative swirl which is going to steer me off course from my ultimate goal.
"Ultimately I think there’s different ways in which you can handle things."
"I knew what I was there to do and I wasn't going to let anything distract me from doing that," he added. "With the experience you learn to just compartmentalise all those different things."
Vettel was subsequently penalised for his actions. But Hamilton also hit a setback when he was forced to make an extra pit stop after his headrest came loose. It meant that both men finished off the podium.
It was just as well the pair weren't in front of the cameras in the green room after the race. Hamilton had some sharp words for his rival.
“When I spoke to him later, I was like: ‘that’s a sign of disrespect'," he said.
"'Don’t ever disrespect me like that again otherwise then we will have problems’ that sort of thing," he had warned.
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