Hamilton started on the back row of the grid after incurring a massive 60-place grid penalty and believed making the points would be a tough ask. “I don’t know what happened, I haven’t looked at the details, but for sure he must have done a great job”.
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Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished second while his team-mate Max Verstappen, roared on by an army of Dutch fans, could manage only 11th following a first-corner collision involving the Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. He then overtook Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg to claim third, two places behind his race-winning team-mate Rosberg. “I was defending my position, if someone doesn’t like it that’s their problem”, he said after the race.
Verstappen became the youngest driver to win a race with a brilliant victory at the Spanish GP in May; but his aggression is not to everyone’s liking.
Rosberg’s victory from pole position cuts by nine his points deficit to Hamilton during a race in which Renault’s Kevin Magnusson suffered a violent crash and was taken to hospital with an injured left ankle.
Nevertheless, Hamilton, who predicted he would struggle to score a single point on Saturday night, will be ecstatic to leave here having lost only 10 points to his championship rival. “That’s not what I’m focusing on”, he told reporters.
“We prepared ourselves in the way we hoped to get some points, but one of my guys took me up to the Paddock Club before the race and I said “I might not finish today”, Hamilton revealed after Sunday’s eventful grand prix.
“I really can not believe that we came up so far”, said Hamilton, praising his team.
“The team predicted eighth today, so very happy with it”. Carlos Sainz Jr was also eliminated soon after, when a tyre on his Toro Rosso blew on lap 2 of the race. “It worked out really well”.
“The good thing now is I have got these engines and hopefully we will have a clean second half of the season”, he said.
Three laps later, Mercedes brought him in for a new set of tyres, putting him out of sync with those around him and on a different strategy, the idea being to try to attack Ricciardo on fresher tyres in the closing laps.
“I am aware of that, but he had the big disadvantage at the weekend”.
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“I’m all up for fair battles and close racing”, an exasperated Raikkonen said after the race, adding that Verstappen’s racing style is “not correct” because his aggressive driving could have caused a “big accident”.
