Sebastian Vettel accepted he was to blame for the first lap incident which ended his and Valtteri Bottas’ chances at the French Grand Prix.
After a good start on the Ultrasoft tyre, the Ferrari driver would tag the left-rear of the Finn’s Mercedes after locking his brakes into Turn 1 trying to pull out of an overtaking move.
The result would be front wing damage for the German and a puncture for Bottas, forcing both into recoveries from the back of the field.
“My start was too good and then I ended up with nowhere to go,” Vettel told reporters post-race.
“It was my mistake. I tried to brake early and get out of it but I had no room. Valtteri tried to get his position back which is fair enough but then I had nowhere to go.
“The turn goes left and I tried to slow down but with that little grip, I, unfortunately, made contact with Valtteri.”
Unsurprisingly, Bottas wasn’t so calm in his assessment of what took place.
“We were going side-by-side I went for the outside, left enough room for him, but he went wide and hit me,” he told Sky Sports. “I got a puncture and damage to the floor, which compromised the race.”
Vettel was penalised five seconds for the incident, however, such was his speed in coming through the field, he would still manage to finish fifth, two places ahead of the Mercedes he hit.
“Ultimately, you shouldn’t really be able to finish ahead of him if you took him out of the race,” race winner Lewis Hamilton commented.
“We are all going into Turn 1 as hard as we could but ultimately when someone destroys your race through an error and it’s kind of a tap on the hand really, and [he is] just allowed to come back and still finish ahead of that person he took out. It doesn’t weigh up.
“It’s disappointing for the team because we had a chance to get a one-two and that’s the ultimate goal,” the Brit added. “Valtteri really had done a solid job all weekend, as he has really been doing this year.”