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Lewis Hamilton was disappointed that he was unable to take a third victory at the Bahrain International Circuit as Sebastian Vettel crossed the line first under the lights in Sakhir.
A tricky start for Hamilton saw him slip behind the German and it went from bad to worse as he was handed a five-place grid penalty for purposely holding up Daniel Ricciardo on entry to the pit lane. The British driver admitted that he was at fault on the podium.
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"Yeah [it was my fault], definitely but firstly congratulations to Sebastian, he did a fantastic job today.
Hamilton had a significant pace advantage over team-mate Valtteri Bottas and the Finn moved over to allow a fast Hamilton through: "Also a big thank you to Valtteri for being a gentleman out there" Hamilton told David Coulthard on the podium.
A difficult first part of the race meant Hamilton had to hunt down Vettel after strapping on the soft tyres but in the end a 19-second gap proved just too much: "A very difficult race. It didn't start out the best but yeah the pit lane was really my fault and apologies to the team for losing the time there. I tried my hardest to catch up but it was a long, long way to go.
"Of course the disappointment is there and as I said losing points for a team is definitely painful but it is what it is. I gave it everything I could," Hamilton remarked in reference to the disappointment of coming second to the Ferrari for the second time in three races.
Alex Griffinen
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
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Ram Samartha
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How quickly he forgot that if wasn't going to catch Vettel he would give the place back. Bottas was within his rights to keep Hamilton behind and make him fight for the 2nd step. Sounds like Mercedes has already determined who their number 1 driver is despite Toto's claim to the contrary.