Following their most recent collision at Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton accused Max Verstappen of “always being aggressive.”
At the Hungaroring, Verstappen locked up during braking, clipping Hamilton’s Mercedes and momentarily sending himself flying on two wheels as the former rivals battled for third position.
Verstappen went off course and finished in fifth place, while Hamilton went on to become the first driver in history to finish on the podium 200 times.
Verstappen was described as “out of control” by Hamilton’s Mercedes team, and the Dutchman maintained that his opponent had moved when braking.
Verstappen and Hamilton were called before the stewards, but neither man received a penalty. Hamilton “could have done more to avoid the accident,” the officiating panel added.
The seven-time world champion gave the following explanation of the event on lap 63 of 70: “We passed a back marker and I got into the braking zone and then Max emerged, so I stepped over to protect.”
I made sure there was adequate space inside, but Max locked up and took a different route than I did. While I was rounding the bend, we quickly crossed.
Lewis Hamilton was accused of moving when braking by Max Verstappen.
It felt like a racing event, and since it’s easy to make mistakes like that, I don’t think there should be any animosity—though there will undoubtedly always be on his end.
After starting fifth, 39-year-old Hamilton advanced one position at the beginning and took advantage of Verstappen and his Red Bull team’s uncharacteristic performance to back up his victory at Silverstone two weeks prior with his historic podium finish.
He went on, “I really didn’t imagine I would earn 200 podiums.” “It’s not bad for me to have done 345 races, but I couldn’t have done it without all of the amazing people I worked with at McLaren and subsequently at Mercedes.”
