Lewis Hamilton said he had the best seat in the house when Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber clashed at the Turkish Grand Prix.
McLaren driver happy to watch as Red Bull drivers throw it away in Turkey
Lewis Hamilton said he had the best seat in the house when Red Bull team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber clashed at the Turkish Grand Prix.
Hamilton was shadowing the pair when they collided whilst disputing the lead on lap 40 of Sunday's race, forcing Vettel out and allowing Hamilton through into the lead.
McLaren team-mate Jenson Button was in close attendance and the pair then engaged in a battle of their own before Hamilton took the chequered flag for his first win of the season.
"It was great to watch. Like watching an action movie in HD or 3D," the 2008 world champion joked after the race. "It was fantastic. I got the best view of it!
"Sebastian is safe, but I just saw Seb go up the inside, Mark held his line and no room to move right, and no reason for Seb to move to the right. It was unfortunate for them and fortunate for us."
Improvement
Aside from his delight at having won for the first time since last year's Singapore Grand Prix, Hamilton was also pleased with McLaren's improvement relative to pacesetters Red Bull.
Hamilton and Button stayed with Webber and Vettel throughout the race, although Hamilton briefly fell behind the German driver on the first lap and also following his pit stop.
"Red Bull made it tough for us and we put up a good fight," he said. "You can see how close it is between the four of us. It's down to momentum, and we will do the best we can to win both championships.
"We have been ragging their tails for some time. It's such an achievement for us, to really be able to take the battle to them. They had one strength that was particularly good here, we had a strength here, and we didn't know how it would pan here.
"Me and Jenson were able to compete with them and push our hardest to be on their tails. To get our second one-two is fantastic."
Button led Hamilton home on the first such occasion in China and was intent on taking the lead once more when the pair engaged in a fight for the lead with 10 laps to go.
The defending world champion attacked Hamilton down the outside into turn 12 and with the pair scrapping side by side, he emerged in the lead two corners later.
Good fun
However, Hamilton dived past once more heading into turn one at the start of the following lap.
Button said: "It was good fun, but then after Lewis got past I was into fuel save mode as well.
"The race was a lot quicker than we thought it would be, but three weeks ago who would have thought we would battle with the Red Bulls like we have."
Although Webber finished third to increase his lead in the drivers' championship, Button is second five points adrift with Hamilton climbing to third a further four points behind.
Meanwhile, McLaren have taken the lead in the constructors' championship by one point from Red Bull.
Sky Bet - F1 Drivers Championship - Hamiton to win 9/4
