Following the chaos which was the Red Bull collision and subsequent aftermath in Turkey on Sunday, Lewis Hamilton enjoyed his first race victory of the season, crossing the line ahead of team-mate Jenson Button before dedicating his first victory since Singapore last year to father and former Manager Anthony.After being able to crucially split the Red Bull pair in qualifying, Hamilton lost second place to Sebastian Vettel at the first corner before retaking the position just moments later, following leader Webber until dropping to third courtesy of a pit-stop problem.
"It was quite exciting, actually!" Hamilton said in the post-race press conference. "We had good race pace; we knew we would be able to stay with the Red Bulls but they're so fast in Turn 8, so it's difficult to slipstream, but otherwise I was on Mark's tail. I had a little problem at the pit-stop, so it was double trouble."
Having seen the Red Bulls go off in front of him, Hamilton then fended off Button in their own inter-team scrap just seven laps later.
"I'm not sure what happened with these guys but me and Jenson had a good little battle and fortunately was able to come back into Turn 1," Lewis continued, having also had to monitor his fuel levels. "It was definitely unexpected but a great result for the team.
"I want to dedicate this win to my dad, it's his 50th birthday tomorrow, so a perfect way for him to celebrate it.
"We were pushing very hard with the Red Bulls and it was a combination of looking after brakes and tyres - Turn 8 was a killer - and also looking after fuel, so it was difficult to know how much fuel to save."
Source: GP Update
