Hamilton: "Bottas would never do that, he's a pure racer"

Lewis Hamilton didn't have an easy start to the season. The Mercedes driver finished second in qualifying and also in the race, but due to a penalty of five seconds he dropped out of the podium in the race.

It only happened in the very last seconds of the race, but Lando Norris managed to drive within five seconds of Hamilton to get his first podium place in Formula 1.

Hamilton says that his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who led the whole race, didn't deliberately go off his gas to stop Hamilton and win more points over his main competitor for the title. "It’s not something that I would ever think he would do", says Hamilton quoted by RaceFans.net.

"He’s a pure racer. He wants to win through pure merit. And I believe that even when he says that you know he doesn’t need to say that", continues Hamilton.

Bottas admits he had to slow down a bit. "I got the message that he’s got a five second penalty. But there was a double yellow, so obviously you have to slow down quite a bit", said the Finn.