Hamilton on collision with Verstappen: 'I thought I would have to retire'

Lewis Hamilton thought after the collision with Max Verstappen that his race would be over. In the press conference after the Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton stated that it felt like his car would not cross the finish line.

Just after the restart after an early safety car, Verstappen and Hamilton made contact. Hamilton had to swerve via the grass to avoid colliding with the other cars but was eventually able to continue without problems, while Verstappen had to go in for a new front wing. The FIA eventually pointed to Verstappen as the culprit and gave him a five-second time penalty.

According to Hamilton, it looked like he was in as bad a shape as Verstappen after that moment. "For me, all I thought in that moment was that I thought the car would have to retire," Hamilton said in the post-race press conference. "I felt something, the rear wasn't feeling the same after that. And for me, it was like, I was going to lose the team the one-two. So I was driving over across the grass, back onto the track and all I could think of was how can I get back to giving the team that incredible result."

First one-two for Mercedes since 2020

A good weekend for Mercedes, as this was the first win and second place for this season. A so-called one-two was by no means unusual for Hamilton during Mercedes' dominant period but it had been a while since he could be part of that. Hamilton addressed that too.

"I'm proud of the job we've all done and huge congratulations to George. I think every one-two is an amazing feeling. I definitely have, in the past, experienced us having a one-two and I think because at stages it was more regular it almost loses that specialness, you know, so to have had this drought and this period of time and to finally get back there, I think it's a wonderful achievement for everybody."