During the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Sao Paulo there was a contact between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, for which both paid the price by damaging their car and losing positions. The Red Bull driver has been identified as the culprit, although according to him Hamilton didn’t give him enough room.
After the first restart of the race on lap 7 on Senna’s axes, Verstappen collided with Hamilton in the fight for second place.
Verstappen attacked the seven-times world champion on the outside in the first corner, but in the second right-hand corner Hamilton did not leave much room for Verstappen and a collision occurred in which Verstappen damaged the front wing and together with Hamilton lost many positions.
The Red Bull driver was handed a five-second penalty by the stewards and finished sixth, while Hamilton finished second behind Mercedes teammate George Russell.
“I went to the outside in the first corner and as soon as I was next to him I knew he wasn’t going to give me any space. I said to myself: ‘OK, if you don’t give me space, we will collide'” Verstappen said after the race.
“In the end, however, we were too slow. And it killed his chances of winning the race. Obviously, thanks to the safety car, he still had a chance. I thought maybe after last year we could forget about it and race again. See whether or not the knight will leave room for you. He had no intention of making room for me.”
Verstappen doesn’t understand why he was penalized for the crash.
“I was next to him 85% of the time and my intention is never to crash, but I felt he was giving me no space and we collided. If he had swerved just a little, he probably would have stayed ahead anyway.
“It’s a shame. I want to run, I want to have a good fight. But when the other person doesn’t want to cooperate with you and the rules are so confusing about how much you have to be on their level when deciding, then these things happen. I got a penalty five seconds, I want to run and I thought we were running.”
