SILVERSTONE, England -- Lewis Hamilton praised Charles Leclerc after their epic fight for position at the British Grand Prix and said it was a lot more sensible than his battle with Max Verstappen in 2021.
Hamilton and Leclerc fought wheel-to-wheel for third position over three incredible laps at the dramatic conclusion of the race.
At one stage, Leclerc reclaimed position around the outside of Copse, the same point of the track where Hamilton and Verstappen controversially collided last year.
Like that incident, Hamilton had the inside line again but Leclerc passed around the outside without contact, something the seven-time world championship was quick to reference after the race.
"Charles did a great job, what a great battle. He is a very sensible driver, clearly a lot different to what I experienced last year," Hamilton told Sky Sports after the race.
"At Copse for example, the two of us went through there with no problem. What a battle. Really, really amazing weekend."
Last year, the FIA appeared to lay the blame for the incident with Hamilton, handing him a 10-second penalty during the race.
Hamilton went on to win regardless.
This year Hamilton had looked a strong contender to repeat that victory but he was left lamenting a series of moments he felt cost him dearly.
"Definitely, for a while it was feeling on. A bunch of things went against us. The start, we got up to third then they put us back to fifth.
"Then I lost ground to Lando, so I spent a bunch of laps trying to get past him. Then the gap was five or six seconds to the Ferraris. But I was doing good time, catching them up, I did a good long stint and I thought: 'Yes, maybe we can fight for a win here.'
"But unfortunately the gap was too big and the pit stop was not very quick. Then at the end, I just struggled with the warm-up and lost out to two cars. It was so tough today."