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Verstappen believes his clash with Hamilton after the safety car restart was what “cost him the race win”.
After a dramatic first lap which saw two retirements in one go as Daniel Ricciardo came together with Kevin Magnussen, there was a safety car period. During the safety car re-start, George Russell streaked into the distance. What he left behind him was a battle for P2.
This battle for P2 was a sight familiar to all 2021 F1 fans. It was Max Verstappen vs Lewis Hamilton once again. Heading into the Senna Esses, Verstappen had the grip and was on the inside line for the second part of it. Hamilton cut across Verstappen and the pair came together, once again. Hamilton took to driving off track for a while and Verstappen noticeably slowed down as other cars passed him.
The outcome of this incident was that Max Verstappen was handed a five-second time penalty and Lewis Hamilton was held up in the hunt for his teammate. Verstappen’s time penalty wasn’t too painful for him as it was Mercedes’ weekend in Brazil and Verstappen knew Red Bull was too slow. Despite this, he was still agitated about the incident.
What Verstappen had to say…
Verstappen believed that his clash cost Lewis the race win but not himself. Speaking on the incident after the race, Max Verstappen told this to Sky Sports.
“It wouldn’t have mattered anything for my race, because we were just way too slow”.
He said afterwards that he had “no pace today”.
Max Verstappen had some harsh words for Lewis Hamilton hinting that Lewis was aggressive and deliberately came into him.
“It’s just a shame, I thought we could race quite well together, but clearly the intention was not there to race”.
The biggest news was that Verstappen believed their tangle cost lewis the victory. His statements show that Verstappen believed Hamilton could have hunted down George Russell one way or another.
It cost him the race win, for me it gave me five seconds.
Despite Verstappen admitting he didn’t understand the penalty he again echoed the idea that he would have had no chance at a win or podium.
“I didn’t quite understand the five-second penalty for the incident with Lewis, but it didn’t affect the race too much as we already lacked pace.”
The question is, do you think Verstappen’s clash with Hamilton cost Lewis Hamilton a chance at victory or was it George’s race all along?
Feature Image Credit: Emilio Morenatti/ Getty Images