Sky Sports commentator, Martin Brundle, commented that Sebastian Vettel almost got “wiped out” by Sir Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the Singapore Grand Prix.
The seven-time champion had started third after an exceptional qualifying performance on Saturday, but he was quickly passed off the start by Carlos Sainz.
He continued to apply the blowtorch to the Ferrari, and got perhaps a little close for comfort during a Virtual Safety Car period.
The Briton made a mistake into Turn Seven while continuing to make up ground on the 28-year-old, and that sent him straight into the barrier.
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Thankfully for him and Mercedes, he was not sent out of the race by that, and he was able to continue.
A full Safety Car caused by Yuki Tsunoda brought Hamilton back into play, but he got caught behnd the Aston Martin of Vettel, who was proving a very tough nut to crack.
As he tried to clear the German heading into Turn Eight, Hamilton got sideways, allowing the recovering Max Verstappen to swoop past.
The 103-time race winner was forced to settle for ninth and two points, which was not reflective of what had been a superb weekend.
“No, definitely not,” Hamilton told Sky Sports.
“I think it started off as a pretty decent weekend, and just really, really unfortunate. I think at the end, I was trying, and that lock-up into Turn Seven, argh…
“When those things happen, your heart skinks a little bit, but you get back up again and you try, and I tried to get past Seb, but it was wet on the inside.
“When you fail, you get up and try again, so it wasn’t the greatest day, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Even had he managed to clear Vettel, Hamilton is not convinced that he would have been able to get onto the podium, as he would still have needed to pass Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris and Sainz after that.
“I don’t think so,” he conceded.
“We potentially could have undercut him maybe, but it was a battle of who… not undercuts, but who gets on the slicks first.
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“It would have been slice and dice, so I was hoping for that, that’s what I was working towards but that all went out the freaking window when I locked up!
“My apologies to the team, but we live and we learn, and I’ll recover.”
Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell, started from the pit lane, and got involved in contact with Valtteri Bottas and Mick Schumacher so he had to settle for 14th and last of the classified runners.