Hamilton warned Vettel about ‘disrespect’

London : Lewis Hamilton has revealed what he said to Sebastian Vettel after their clash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix earlier in the season.

Vettel accused Hamilton of brake-testing him during the Safety Car period in Baku and responded by driving up alongside the Mercedes and hitting his car from the side.

Hamilton’s data showed no evidence that he did force a collision between the two rivals and Vettel was given a 10-second stop/go penalty which some thought was a little lenient.

Hamilton and Vettel spoke to each other about the incident after the race, with the Brit warning Vettel not to disrespect him again.

“When I spoke to him later, I was like ‘that’s a sign of disrespect, so don’t ever disrespect me like that again otherwise then we will have problems’,” said Hamilton when discussing his reaction.

“I’ve never done that to someone. I don’t even know what he was thinking to have done… I’ve never been in a position like that. “I guess people react differently under certain pressures.”

Hamilton said that the incident could have easily distracted him from his “ultimate goal” of winning the World Championship but he was not prepared to let Vettel do that.

”I think there’s different ways in which you can handle things,” added Hamilton.

“I knew what I was there to do and I wasn’t going to let anything distract me from doing that.

“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.