Hamilton and Verstappen may still be in talks over crash in Hungary
- Corwin Kunst
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both paid a visit to the stewards after the Hungarian Grand Prix. The two rivals had hit each other seven laps before the flag dropped. The incident was dismissed as a racing incident, while Verstappen took a different view. The two drivers have not yet spoken to each other about it.
Are Verstappen and Hamilton still going to talk?
Hamilton was clear to the stewards: as far as I am concerned, it is a racing incident. Verstappen claimed the Mercedes driver had changed line under braking and should therefore be blamed for the incident. The reigning world champion was not vindicated and Hamilton retained his podium finish. Incidentally, Verstappen himself did not receive a penalty either, as he did not brake later than in the previous laps.
So both drivers had a different reading. Hamilton told GPblog and others in the Spa-Francorchamps paddock: "We didn't talk afterwards. We went to the stewards. I don't know if we will, maybe we'll talk in the break or this weekend maybe. I've not felt like there's necessarily a need to but it might be something. We didn't get the time to do it."
Hamilton was also bemused that the stewards said there could have been more done by the Brit to avoid the incident: "I was really surprised by it. I was very relaxed, just a racing incident let's just move on. But considering one car was in control and one car was not in control at the time…If you look at the replay, at the end of the whole move, I'm very very far from the apex so there's a lot of room on the right-hand side. I was surprised the stewards typed it out."
Hamilton scored 15 World Championship points thanks to his podium finish at the Hungaroring, seesawing over Sergio Perez in the world championship. The Briton is now sixth, one point ahead of the Mexican Red Bull Racing driver. Verstappen finished fifth in Budapest and saw Lando Norris creep eight points closer.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy