Bottas grateful Hamilton let him back through on last lap

Valtteri Bottas thanks Lewis Hamilton for honouring the deal to let him back onto the podium if he couldn't pass the race-leading Ferraris.
Bottas grateful Hamilton let him back through on last lap

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Valtteri Bottas thanked Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton for honouring an in-race deal and letting him back onto the podium on the final lap of the Hungarian Grand Prix after he failed to pass the Ferrari drivers.

Hamilton was waved past Bottas in order to try and catch Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen ahead, with a handling issue for the leader causing the field to bunch.

Hamilton was unable to make it through, and despite Bottas coming under pressure from Max Verstappen in the final few laps, backed off and let his team-mate back through.

Bottas took third by four-tenths of a second, with Hamilton finishing just 0.3 seconds clear of Verstappen in P5.

"I was trying to get close enough to Kimi at some point to attack, but there were no opportunities," Bottas said.

"Then we swapped as a team and Lewis tried it as well, and when he was trying, at the same time, I really struggled with the backmarkers. I thought I was unlucky with a few of the guys being behind them for laps and losing time, losing the rhythm.

"Then the team promised me that once we did swap and I let him go and try that we would swap again back if he couldn't make it, and he couldn't make it. The team kept the promise, which I'm really happy about and really thankful for the team that we swapped again in the end.

"A big thanks to Lewis as well. I don't think every teammate would have done the swap back if you're running for a podium place. I think that was nice from the team and from Lewis."

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