Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has admitted he held back in the opening corner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix out of respect for team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton had made the better launch away from the initial start of the race, but it was Bottas who out-braked the reigning World Champion and hung it around the outside as the pair went wheel-to-wheel.
The battle continued into turns two and three and Hamilton confessed he could have pushed harder against his reinvigorated team-mate, especially if the situation was different had Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was getting in on the action.
"It is very difficult," said Hamilton. "Ultimately, you always have to remember when you’re a team as a big as this, you’re the only one.
"Selfishly I could have pushed a lot harder, I could have gained, he would have lost and maybe lost to a Ferrari so while I wanted to overtake, I had to be cautious so we could block the front row.
"We did that and sometimes that is a sacrifice you have to make if you want to win. If it was a Ferrari there [next to me], it would be different. It’s how it will continue in the year.
"Valtteri and I have always had respect for each other. We discuss it before the race. We’re real gentleman."
Hamilton also refused to be downbeat about finishing second to Bottas despite attempting to chase him down in the final laps, insisting it was the Finn who had done the better job in qualifying and ultimately deserved the race win.
"Ultimately Valtteri did a better job in qualifying and that put him in position to fight. It was fine margins at the start, which yeah, I have to work on.
"But after that, I lost 2.5s under the VSC, so I had to regain that. With only nine laps to go, it was not so easy. It was my fault. I need to work on the dash to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
"Valtteri has clearly stepped up this year, he is really happy with the car, really delivering, driving fantastic, so it’s going to take fantastic performances to outperform each other.
"Hopefully at some stage, Ferrari will be in the mix with us. This weekend, I think they had the performance to be up with us. Seb didn’t get a tow, worth four or five tenths, he probably would have been on pole had he got a tow, it would have been different.
"It takes 100% delivery through the weekend, we are close to that. They’re going to have to figure it out if they want to fight us."
