Lewis Hamilton was left relieved that Mercedes opted not to follow his advice of saving the engine following his lap one collision with Kevin Magnussen.
Hamilton sustained a puncture in the incident at Turn 4 and was forced to return to the pit lane for a fresh set of tyres.
The seven-time World Champion called on the Mercedes team to save the engine for later in the season, as he was half a minute behind the pack following the stop.
However, Hamilton recovered to score a fifth place result, while team-mate George Russell took his second podium of the year in third.
“I was 30 seconds behind so I thought if I am going to use a whole engine to drive around in last or out of the top 15 and at some point take a penalty,” Hamilton explained.
“I thought we may as well save the engine so we can live to fight another day. Thank god we didn’t, that is why we never stop we never give up and that’s what I did.
“I was hoping for a smoother race without the issue at the beginning. Having seen what it was like back in Jeddah where I started 15th and struggled to get into the top 10, I was thinking this is impossible to get back into the points.
“They said no I was on for eighth – I couldn’t understand it and thought they were definitely being super optimistic. But I thought let’s give it everything and see where I come out.”
Hamilton also passed Carlos Sainz for fourth place but was forced to take drastic measures to cool the car in the final laps, which saw the Ferrari driver move back ahead.
Speaking to Sky F1, Hamilton says that he was driving at just half throttle down the straights in order to cool the car.
“It was a lot hotter than predicted today and it’s quite tough with these cars,” he said.
“I don’t know exactly went on with the car, I’ve not spoken with the team because I’ve been elsewhere.
“But I had to basically just drive it at half-throttle and lots of lifting down the straights just to try and get fresh air into the engine to try and cool it down.”
The usual dirty driving on display from the despicable Hamilton, deliberately ramming another car off the track. Sadly, the self-inflicted damage wasn’t terminal, while bizarrely the stewards decided to let him off with it, whereas the situation called for him to be disqualified from this race and at least two more to put a leash on his continuing reckless and dangerous behaviour.
Hahaha what a joke. You’re just another in a long line of Hamilton haters. I understand you’re upset because Lewis is the goat, but instead of hating, why not just support your driver, probably Maxine Vercrashen and enjoy his swearing at his team when he doesn’t get his own way.
We have 20 top drivers to enjoy so instead of hating on one hugely talented 7 time world champion, try and enjoy the racing.
First of all, the story on this page isn’t about any of the other nineteen drivers, it’s about Hamilton, which is why my comment was about Hamilton. Secondly, you are a hypocrite who doesn’t follow his own advice. Why do you need to be disparaging about Verstappen? If you adhered to your stated principles you would be supportive of your driver without hating any other, but, of course, you didn’t, because that isn’t really a principle you hold, it’s simply a device you employed, albeit ineffectually, in an attempt to close down rightful criticism of Hamilton’s dirty tactics.
Finally, you may wish to consider why there is this long line of Hamilton haters, of which you write. There are two reasons I would suggest. Hamilton himself is a poisonous, agitating, and unpleasant presence. And his supporters, largely, are blind to his faults, vindictive towards other drivers, plus hypocritically intolerant of other opinions.