Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were involved in an extraordinary incident during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in which the Ferrari driver deliberately drove into his title rival's Mercedes in what appeared to be a fit of road rage.
But Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari was given a penalty for unsafe driving and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes had to stop due to his headrest coming loose and presenting a safety issue.
Despite that, Hamilton got up close by the last lap, but the best he could manage was fifth place, behind the victor, Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull, second place Bottas in the Mercedes, Stroll in the Williams and Vettel's Ferrari.
The chaotic race and results actually leaves Vettel with a 14 point lead over Hamilton, with Bottas now 28 points behind Hamilton.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo won what will be regarded as a race for the ages following three safety vehicle periods, one red flag and a series of notable incidents. An irate Vettel then accelerated alongside Hamilton and appeared to deliberately swerve back into him. Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes took second place from Williams rookie Lance Stroll on the final straight. "It was such an intense race, a insane race, and so much happened, the red flag and hopping out the vehicle and hopping back in and having to reset". "I like to think that I remain respectful and I'll continue to do so".
FIA analysis of the second contact concluded that Vettel had turned into Hamilton's Mercedes. "It is all just noise in the background, I don't care". "I got hit at Turn 2 and there was quite a lot of damage on the vehicle already on the left-hand side".
On his team radio Vettel angrily accused the Briton of "brake-testing him".
In the build-up to yesterday, three-time grand prix victor Johnny Herbert had predicted that Azerbaijan would be the weekend where the season sparked into life between the two title protagonists.
As if Hamilton hadn't seen enough drama already, his headrest came loose just past the midway point of the race.
"We came back to it this weekend and I am as competitive as at the beginning of the season, like in Bahrain and China where I was in Q3".
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Coming back from 17th, Ricciardo nabbed fifth after Force India teammates Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez collided, moved into third after passing the Williams pair, and when Hamilton was forced to pit on lap 32 with a loose headrest and Vettel's penalty handed the Australian the lead. "I think he disgraced himself today", the Briton told Channel 4.
Hamilton led away from pole position as Bottas blocked Vettel on the inside of Turn 1.
Collisions between Bottas and Raikkonen go back to 2015, when the two fought for the podium in the Russian Grand Prix before they then made contact in Mexico.
"The stewards looked at my data and the reason I didn't get a penalty is because I clearly did not brake-test him".
It appeared Hamilton had done nothing untoward, but the German was clearly irate and pulled alongside the Mercedes, waving an arm, before turning into his vehicle.
A reluctant Hamilton stopped at the end of lap 31 for 9.3 seconds and was then on his way.
But Bottas had to pit on the second lap for a new front wing, dropping to last. Later, Hamilton was informed that Vettel planned to phone him to cool the air.
After Vettel's penalty, he was ahead of Hamilton in sixth.
"Firstly, he doesn't have my number", Hamilton said.
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