Lewis Hamilton has suggested Max Verstappen is “silly” in racing situations after their contact at the start in Mexico.
The two drivers went into Turn 1 side-by-side with the Dutchman pushing the Mercedes wide causing the Briton to slide and force both cars off track in the proceeding chicane.
As a result, Hamilton continued his race with a damaged floor, albeit still claiming victory, but he admitted the moment with Verstappen again highlighted the peril of going wheel-to-wheel with him.
“Yep,” he told RaceFans on whether he has had to adapt his approach against the Red Bull driver.
“I think every driver is slightly different. Some are smarter, some are very smart, aggressive and some are silly with it.
“Through those experiences of racing with people you give some more space and others you don’t have to, they’re quite respectful.
“But Max, it’s very likely you’re going to come together with Max if you don’t give him extra space. So most of the time you do.”
Also Read:
Verstappen’s ‘do or die’ moves cost him again soon after, as a lunge on Valtteri Bottas into the stadium hairpin resulted in a slow puncture that effectively ruined his race.
“It was just a bad day,” he said.
“The start was good, then with Lewis in Turn 2, I got pushed wide and had to go off the track. But then we drove back a little bit, the race was still on.
“Then I had my puncture with Valtteri. I don’t know what exactly happened, I have to see the images. It is what it is.
“Then I had to do a one-stop to get back to sixth. It was the best we could do after all of that.”
The result ended Verstappen’s two-year winning run in Mexico, and for Red Bull boss Christian Horner it was all about the small margins.
“We had a very quick race car today so it’s a real shame losing out at the first couple of turns and getting a puncture with Valtteri, you are out of the race at that point,” he told Sky Sports.
“He had to do almost the entire race on one set of tyres and Max did a very strong drive to come back to P6.
“Frustrating because I think we could have had a lot more out of it today. He was racing hard with Lewis at Turn 2 and for me, that’s a racing incident.
“Then he’s just got very unlucky with the puncture. Sometimes it just doesn’t go your way and on another day it would have worked and he would have been a hero.”