Lewis Hamilton says he had the title fight in mind when Max Verstappen caught him in the opening stages of the Malaysian Grand Prix, a race he doubts Mercedes had a chance of winning on raw pace.
Hamilton's good prospects coming into the race -- pole position, with title rival starting from 20th -- looked even better before the start, with Kimi Raikkonen encountering an engine problem and failing to make the start in the other Ferrari. That meant Hamilton had the front row all to himself and he easily held the lead into Turn 1.
His lead did not last long, with Verstappen staying within DRS range and soon closing in for a move on lap four. When Verstappen darted to the inside of Turn 1, Hamilton did not appear to put up much of a fight.
Despite increasing his lead over Vettel to 34 points, Hamilton suggested Mercedes failed to capitalise on the situation properly.
"I think it's OK... I mean, considering [Vettel] started last it's not that great, to be honest," Hamilton said, referring to Vettel's stellar drive back to fourth. "We should have won today but we didn't have the pace. We knew going into the race that we didn't have the quickest car; our delta was Ferrari eight-tenths [of a second] faster than us, which they were, and the Red Bulls five, six tenths quicker than us, which they were.
"There wasn't really much I could do there and I really had to make a decision when Max was closing down, make the decision not to fight him and risk him crashing into me because he's going to give it everything, he's got nothing to lose wheras I have everything to lose. I didn't make it hard for him."
Mercedes has endured a puzzling weekend at a circuit most believed would favour the world champions, having struggled for pace since the opening practice session. Though Hamilton thinks there was an improvement when he took on the soft tyre at the end
When asked if he ever had the pace to challenge Verstappen's comfortable lead, he said: "No, not really. I think the end of the second stint was looking a little bit better but underlying the car was still having some big problems in some corners, I think Max was just managing the pace... so I don't think we had the pace."