Lewis Hamilton vows to beat Sebastian Vettel to the F1 title in 'the right way'

Collision | Lewis Hamilton (pictured) was left incensed with Sebastian Vettel after the Azerbaijan GP
AFP/Getty Images
Vaishali Bhardwaj27 June 2017

Lewis Hamilton believes Sebastian Vettel demonstrated mental weakness during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the weekend, and has vowed to beat his title rival to the Championship in "the right way".

The pair came head-to-head during the Azerbaijan GP on Sunday after Vettel made contact with the Mercedes driver from the back, claiming Hamilton had slowed down on purpose, before the German accelerated alongside the Brit and swerved back into him.

The incident resulted in Vettel being handed a 10-second stop-go penalty but, after Hamilton lost time dealing with a loose headrest, the Mercedes man finished in fifth place while Vettel ended in fourth.

After the race, Hamilton accused Vettel of dangerous driving and the 32-year-old has now insisted his title rival's actions on Sunday shows the pressure he is under to win the Championship.

When asked if Vettel had demonstrated mental weakness, Hamilton said: "That's been kind of obvious for some time. You look at last year and some of the things he's come and said on the radio. We know how he can be.

"I honestly would never have thought that that would have happened, but we can only look at that as a positive for us.

"We've put a lot of pressure on Ferrari. He's under pressure and that's not a bad thing. That shows that often pressure can get to even some of the best of us."

Hamilton added: "(This) was obviously a different Sebastian than we saw in those seven races, and I like to think that I remained respectful.

"I will continue to do so and I want to do the talking on the track. I want to win this championship the right way."

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