Lewis Hamilton: F1 star reveals why he didn't PUNCH Sebastian Vettel after Baku incident
LEWIS HAMILTON says a lesson from his dad stopped him from losing it with Sebastian Vettel at this season’s European Grand Prix.
Hamilton and Vettel fought it out for the F1 title for the first time this year.
And the duo were first and second respectively in Baku when the safety car was required following an on-track incident.
Hamilton was in charge of leading the procession until the safety car left the track.
And, as he maintained a standard pace in those circumstances, Vettel crashed into the back of him.
Vettel fumed over what he thought was Hamilton break checking him and proceeded to barge the Mercedes driver.
The incident was seen as a turning point in the title race with the duo’s rivalry ramping up considerably.
Hamilton has now discussed why Vettel ended up hitting his car and his own response to it happening.
"Looking back at Baku, one of the things I worked on this year was re-starts," the 2017 champion told Sky Sports.
"Lights go out and you become the safety car, basically. You control the pace. I was letting the car go.
"So I did exactly the same as I did the time before, two times before.
"He [Vettel] realised he’d been napping all those other times so he tried to get on the gas and drove into the back of me."
Presenter Damon Hill responded: "Formula 1 always throws up these moment where you couldn’t believe what your watching.
"He seemed to lose it completely!"
And Hamilton replied: "I’m not one for violence really.
"But every now and then sometimes *laughs*… it can be handled that way.
Lewis Hamilton shows off his £1million FERRARI supercar
"But I wasn’t thinking of that. I’ve always, since I was really, really young, I remember when I was karting, my dad always said: ‘Just do your talking on the track’.
"When I was karting, I’d get boshed off by some idiot and you just want to go over and punch them in the face *laughs*, straight up.
"But my Dad would say: ‘Do your talking on the track’, so that’s what I did."
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo ultimately came out on top in Azerbaijan, with Vettel fourth and Hamilton fifth.