“Relentless” Hamilton Forced Valtteri Bottas Into Vettel Like Error: Ex F1 Driver

During the race at Nurburgring, Lewis Hamilton kept piling pressure on the race leader, Valtteri Bottas, to a point where the Finn made a huge mistake by locking up as he entered Turn 1.

He flat-spotted his tires to an extent where he had to pit the same lap. While in conversation on the Checkered Flag podcast, Jolyon Palmer spoke about the Bottas’ error and related it to the Sebastian Vettel incident back in Montreal last year.

“It was the pressure of Hamilton getting closer and closer. And a momentary lapse of concentration, probably for Bottas just trying to find a little bit more pace. It was a big error.

“It was a little bit like Sebastian Vettel in Canada last year, where Hamilton closed up and was right there with Vettel. And Vettel went across the grass and we all know how that one ended.”

Not too dissimilar to Bottas’ ordeal, Vettel locked-up going into Turn 3 and had to cut the chicane through Turn 4 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada.

However, in this case, Vettel managed to protect his lead from Hamilton. While joining the track, though, he almost hit Hamilton, and it wasn’t taken lightly by the stewards.

Later, during the race, the stewards slapped the German with a 5-second time penalty sealing his fate to a P2. The decision by the stewards in the race spurred a lot of controversies.

Palmer mentioned that Lewis pushed Bottas to an extent where he cracked under pressure during the race. “It is the pressure that Hamilton puts on the race leaders that can just be relentless. He’s had a good weekend.

“But that mistake; forgetting the event of his retirement, that mistake would have cost him the win, anyway. And it’s just the race pace and the relentless pressure that Hamilton can put on in the races. It is the hardest part for Bottas,” he added.

Bottas was running well in P1 until Lap 13 when he erred and let Hamilton take the lead. Subsequently, his car suffered a loss of power and shackled him to the paddock, bringing his race to an end for good.