Lewis Hamilton SWEARS in shock reaction to Vettel/Verstappen collision? This is BRILLIANT
LEWIS HAMILTON was left staggered after watching Sebastian Vettel’s collision with Max Verstappen in the Japanese Grand Prix.
Hamilton cruised to victory at Suzuka taking another giant leap to securing his fifth world title, while rival Vettel could only manage sixth.
The Ferrari driver – who started eighth on the grid – is now 67 points behind Hamilton after enduring a disastrous race in Japan.
While Vettel was able to move up the field in the opening stages at Suzuka, a collision with Verstappen on lap four sent the German tumbling down the order.
The Ferrari ace tried to overtake Verstappen at Spoon corner in a bid to move up to third, however, Verstappen defended and the pair touched.
Vettel spun off the track and ended up down in 19th position.
The pair were investigated by race stewards for the collision but no action was taken.
And after securing his 71st victory of his career, Hamilton was left staggered after watching a replay of the incident involving Vettel and Verstappen.
While in the drivers cool-down room after the race, Hamilton was seen viewing footage with Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
“S**t… s**t… S**T,” Hamilton said was he watched the incident unfold.
A furious Vettel firmly laid blame on Verstappen for the collision.
“I was pushing to get past. I wasn't desperate to get past,” Vettel told Sky Sports.
“I knew he had a five-second penalty. The gap was there, but as soon as he saw me, he defended, but I had the inside. In my opinion, he tries to push when he shouldn’t.”
A crucial moment in the grand prix, and the title race...
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 7, 2018
Lap 8: Seb ������ Max#JapaneseGP ������������ #F1 pic.twitter.com/pTrYZ4z2uK
The collision came just a few laps after Verstappen collided with Kimi Raikkonen and was handed a five-second time penalty as a result.
“Look at the incident he had with Kimi,” Vettel continued.
“It's not always right the other guy has to move. I got through the whole field without any trouble.
“You need to always leave a space. In that case I couldn't go anywhere.”
The incident involving Vettel and Verstappen has severely dented the Ferrari driver’s hopes of closing Hamilton down in the title race.
Hamilton will win the title in the US Grand Prix if he takes victory in Austin and Vettel finishes lower than second.