Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were involved in another heated battle at Interlagos. Lewis attempted a move around the outside of Turn 2 right after the early safety car restart. But the Dutchman was not ready to yield.
The two went extremely close with the Red Bull on the inside. And it ended with Hamilton clipping the front wing of Verstappen’s RB18. Lewis was forced to take the runoff.
Verstappen was forced to pit with damage to his bodywork and lacked pace for the rest of the race. He would be given s 5-second penalty for causing a collision. He received 2 penalty points to his tally after the race.
When asked about the incident, Lewis brushed it off saying, “You know how it is with Max!” But Max was clearly not happy. And in fact, he believes the fault lies on Lewis who forced him to make the error.
Max Verstappen claims Lewis Hamilton is at fault
Max Verstappen feels Lewis closed down on him by going around the outside. And in doing so, the Briton did not leave any room to have a fair battle. Max said, “I knew we were going to get together.”
He adds, “I immediately felt he was not going to leave space. And I had no intention to back out.” The Dutchman also questioned the 5-second time penalty he received as he felt it was a racing incident at first.
Max believes Lewis could have handled the situation better. And had he raced Max fair, the outcome would have been favourable to both drivers.
“It cost him the race win, for me it gave me five seconds. It wouldn’t have mattered anything for my race, because we were just way too slow. But it’s just a shame. I thought we could race quite well together, but clearly, the intention was not there to race.”
Verstappen dropped down to P17 and had to fight his way up the grid. He’d finish P6 but the Dutchman claimed the degradation and lack of pace made it a rather unfruitful race for him.
Verstappen does not regret colliding with Lewis
Max Verstappen was clearly frustrated with the incidents in the race and Red Bull’s lack of pace. The Collision cost him momentum as the Dutchman was forced to abort his ambition to win the race.
But the Dutchman feels the collision with Lewis Hamilton should have been more aware. And thus he was surprised when he was given a 5-second penalty by the stewards. But he would not hesitate if he had to do the same again.
“I was surprised when I got the five-second penalty. I was not upset. But if you asked me, ‘would I do it again?’ Absolutely.”
Last year in Brazil, Lewis and Max had a heated on-track battle, where the Dutchman drove him wide off the track. Max was eager to start on a fresh slate, leaving the previous year’s animosity aside. But it didn’t work out.
Verstappen said, “If he would have just moved a little bit, he probably would have stayed ahead anyway. And it’s a shame. I want to race. I want to have a good fight, but when the other one doesn’t want to work with you.”
Lewis had the last laugh as he finished P2 while Geroge Russell claimed the race win to claim Mercedes’ first win of the season. While Verstappen got in hot waters after denying teammate Sergio Perez crucial points in his chance to finish P2 in the Championship.
