Lewis Hamilton believes Max Verstappen misjudged the timing of his overtake which cost the Dutch driver victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Hamilton managed to withstand the pressure from Verstappen in the closing laps of the race and reclaimed the lead when Verstappen passed him off the track at turn four and had to give up the position. The Mercedes driver feels the opening half of the race was crucial to his win to set him up for the battle at the end of the Grand Prix. "I was just able to hold onto him [Verstappen] in that first stint but I had a feeling he was going to go long on his stint," Hamilton told Ziggo Sport. "The undercut was so powerful I didn't want to risk getting undercut and Red Bull are so fast. Verstappen's obviously on top form, and their car is fantastic. The engine is so strong. "So to get this result given all those factors, I'm so happy." Hamilton feels Verstappen made a mistake by going for an ambitious move with still four laps remaining in the race. "I don't think he really needed to attack me then," said Hamilton. "He had fresher tires you could be patient. "I braked nice and late and kept him by the side and then he had to go wide. Verstappen went off track and within the rules that we have, we're not allowed to take off track. "When I saw that I was like okay he is gonna have to give it back but I thought he's immediately going to get, have another chance to overtake me again. "I managed to somewhere hold it really long, and I hope those will be valuable points."
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