Max Verstappen doesn’t believe he did anything wrong that led to his collision with Lewis Hamilton at the Hungarian Grand Prix and feels the Mercedes driver was at fault.
The Dutchman has had a much tougher time in F1 over the past few months with Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren all closing the gap to Red Bull.
Verstappen has only taken pole position in one of the last six race weekends and he had another difficult race in Hungary.
McLaren were the quickest car on track throughout the weekend and that was evident with Oscar Piastri taking the first F1 win of his career ahead of Lando Norris after a team order dispute.
Verstappen was originally fighting for third, but was caught out twice in the race by being undercut by Hamilton in the two sets of pit stops.
The Championship leader was able to close up to Hamilton on both occasions, but he was clearly not happy in the cockpit throughout the race.
Max Verstappen pointed the finger at Lewis Hamilton
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He failed to get past a defensive Hamilton on the first stint before the British driver came in for his second pit stop.
Verstappen had a much greater chance later in the race to get past the Mercedes driver as he rapidly closed on his rival.
But he was punished for a late lunge down the inside of Turn One, which resulted in Verstappen’s car flying into the air and off the track.
Verstappen locked up with Hamilton turning to take the corner and then making contact with the Red Bull’s rear left tyre.
The incident saw Verstappen drop back down to fifth and he was unable to get past Charles Leclerc before the end of the race.
He’s been sent to the stewards who are investigating the incident with Nico Rosberg suggesting on Sky Sports that a time penalty would be the correct punishment.
However, Verstappen doesn’t feel he was at fault for the collision and pointed the finger at Hamilton.
“I went for a move that was fully on,” he said.
“But then in the middle of the braking zone – when I’m already committed to the move – he suddenly just keeps moving right.
“If I wouldn’t have turned while braking straight, I would have made contact with him.
“So naturally I lock up because he just keeps on turning to the right.
“People always made a lot about what happened in Austria and what was not correct, bla bla bla, but that’s on the initial move and then you just brake straight.
“I felt like now was not on the initial move but afterward, during the braking zone he keeps turning right. You cannot do that when someone is committed to the inside.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton collided towards the end of the race
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“That’s why I locked up because we would have collided anyway because he turned in on me.
“At the end of the day, if we would have done a better strategy you’re not in that position.
“I don’t think that was wrong. I went for a move that was fully on, I don’t think I braked too late.
“There was a number of tetchy radio exchanges between Verstappen and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase throughout the race.
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Lewis Hamilton finished third behind the two McLaren drivers
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Lambiase then appeared to call Verstappen ‘childish’ after making a comment about his collision with Hamilton.
But Verstappen doesn’t feel the need to issue an apology to Lambiase.
“I don’t think we need to apologise, we just need to do a better job,” he added.
“I don’t know why people think you cannot be vocal on the radio. “This is a sport and if some people don’t like that then stay home.”