Lewis slams Williams' Sirotkin for near clash

SAO PAULO • Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton accused Williams driver Sergey Sirotkin of being "disrespectful" on Saturday after a near-miss during qualification for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Both were on an "out" lap in the second phase of qualifying and had positioned themselves for a quick following lap by keeping a gap with the car in front at Interlagos.

Sirotkin then came up fast behind the Mercedes driver, who jinked to the left but almost into his path. The Russian took evasive action by running onto the grass.

"I was making sure I had the gap but then all of a sudden, I saw a car coming at high speed so I was like, 'Oh my God, is that someone on a lap?'," Hamilton, who qualified on pole position, told reporters.

"So I went to move to the left and that's where he decided to go, but he wasn't on a (quick) lap so I don't really know what his thinking was.

"We all know to keep our space by that point so it was generally quite a disrespectful move in the sense of where it was dangerous between us both, because I was not expecting it to happen that way."

Stewards later summoned Sirotkin for another offence - for driving unnecessarily slowly on an in-lap. The 23-year-old, making a rare appearance in the second phase of qualifying for his struggling team, later defended himself, although he admitted Hamilton was faultless.

Sirotkin explained that his team had no pre-warmed tyres ready for him, which meant he had to push hard to get heat into them so they would perform.

"I don't think there is anything he (Hamilton) did wrong. It was just the situation that I had to push, which was quite unusual for the out-lap, but these things can happen," he said.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 12, 2018, with the headline Lewis slams Williams' Sirotkin for near clash. Subscribe