Vettel: I don't blame Bottas he had no grip

Bottas was running second with wasted tyres, stalked by the Ferrari duo headed by Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Bottas drove a superb defensive spell, is boss Toto Wolff hailing the performance as the best yet by the Finn during his two years with the Silver Arrows, but he ran out of ammo to contain the attacks late in the race.

With half a dozen laps to go, Vettel pounced as they powered into Turn 2 by going around the outside of the Mercedes, but Bottas kept his foot down as they entered the corner and tagged the rear of the Ferrari.

Although Bottas came out the worse for wear, his front wing damaged in the contact which further compromised his gripless Merc but the Ferrari, despite what seemed like a big hit, survived and Vettel went on to finish second.

The Ferrari driver explained, “Obviously I felt all of a sudden that I got hit from behind. I think for him there wasn’t really anywhere to go. I don’t blame him."

"I think he had no grip, obviously when you’re so close it’s very difficult to stop the car and I think he locked up and we made contact. For me, I realised straight away that I had a much better run and my rears were in better shape."

"I got the inside track out of Turn 1 and I had DRS so I was quite comfortable into Turn 2 and knowing that I’d got him and I wanted to make sure that I don’t overshoot the braking. But as soon as I hit the brakes and a little bit later, about when I turned in, I felt the contact from behind.”

“I checked in the mirrors, I saw he was there and then obviously I was lucky that I could catch the car and also lucky with the contact that I didn’t get a puncture.”

“The team told me straight away that the tyres look fine. Then I had a feel but the car was fine until the end,” added Vettel.

Bottas gave his side of the story, Bottas said, “With Seb, he had a good run into Turn Two, we had a bit of a battle into Turn One. I still had my nose inside into Turn Two, he was on the outside, he turned in very early and for me, there was nowhere to go."

"So we touched and I was the only one who got damage. Fair enough, I think a racing incident," added Bottas.

The FIA race stewards agreed with him and it was declared to be a "racing incident" but a later move by Bottas on Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, with the Merc crippled, did not escape unpunished.

After the race, he was handed a ten-second penalty and given two licence penalty points for clattering into the Red Bull as they fought for position under brakes into turn one. The penalty did not affect the race result.

Vettel heads to the summer break 24 points adrift of championship leader Lewis Hamilton, while the second and third place for their drivers helped Ferrari close the gap in the constructors' championship to 10 points.