LE CASTELLET, France -- Sebastian Vettel said there was nothing he could do to avoid a collision with Valtteri Bottas at the start of the French Grand Prix on Sunday.
Vettel hit Bottas in the first corner after trying to pass the Mercedes on the inside of the left hander for second place. The Ferrari driver had made a good start from third on the grid but claimed he was boxed in by Lewis Hamilton ahead of him and Bottas to the right.
Both Bottas and Vettel had to pit for damage while the Ferrari driver was also hit with a five-second penalty for causing the collision
"In the end, there wasn't that much I could have done differently," he said. "Just the wrong place.
"Obviously what you don't see is that I lost a lot of grip and as I said I saw it and I was aware, so the two cars running around the outside trying to get their position on me, because I was stuck but I couldn't slow down more than I did and obviously lost the car and hit Valtteri.
"So I guess the rule is causing a collision and that's what I did because I lost the car. But was it intentional? Certainly not, because it could as well have been the end of the race for me.
"Obviously for Valtteri it was very bad because it affected his race and he had nothing to do with it, so I went to him after the race [to talk to him]. Given the situation, how tight it was, I think we were both lucky in a way to be able to continue like I said.
"From there, obviously we had a good recovery but it wasn't the race we wanted."
Asked to explain why he didn't do more to avoid the incident, Vettel said he had little option but to brake and turn when he did after pulling alongside Bottas' car after his strong start.
"Well in the end, the way I look at it with hindsight, I would have liked to have a worse start, because then it would have been more straightforward and I wouldn't be in that position! I haven't seen it yet so I will look at it again, but from the inside it didn't feel or didn't appear that there was a lot I could have done differently.
"I tried to get out of it. Obviously you don't hit the brakes 200 metres before the corner just because you think it could be a bad spot to be in, you still try to be competitive. But to be honest, I wasn't attacking first, I was aware that Valtteri, and even I saw Max, would have a run around the outside because I'm stuck. But obviously it wasn't enough but it's just one of those things that sometimes goes wrong."