Lewis Hamilton has reflected on his “hair raising” battle with Max Verstappen after the pair collided at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The British driver held on to finish third behind the McLaren pairing of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, but only after his Mercedes was clipped Verstappen as the Dutchman attempted an overtake.
The impact duly sent the Red Bull vehicle into the air and then across the track into the gravel, while Hamilton was somehow able to carry on and seal a podium finish.
Verstappen meanwhile, was fifth, with Charles Leclerc capitalising on the incident to move up a place.
“Obviously the close battle we had the end was a bit hair raising, but that’s motor racing,” Hamilton said afterwards. “It’s not nerve-wracking. When you see the pace at which they closed the gap in certain corners, you just laugh to yourself because it’s not something I can do.”
Verstappen will now await to see if race stewards investigate the incident, which could yet cost him his final position. However, Hamilton implied the contact was merely a consequence of competitive racing.
“I saw him coming from a long way back and he was able to brake a lot later than me, but he sent it up the inside,” he added. “I stayed still, and he clipped the wheel and went over. I think a racing incident.”
Over team radio, Verstappen initially accused the 39-year-old of moving while braking. However, team engineers didn’t seem interested in the claim, prompting him to angrily ask: “So you can just drive people off the track then?”
The incident triggered memories of the pair’s infamous battle for the title in 2021. During that season, they collided on numerous occasions, most notably at Monza when Hamilton was fortunate to escape serious injury.
However, the result continued Hamilton’s recent resurgence in his final year with the Silver Arrows, having finally ended his F1 drought with a win at Silverstone last week. And he also appeared happy for the team where he started his illustrious career.
“A huge congratulations to McLaren on the one-two,” he added. “That’s my old, original family so I’m really happy to see the whole team back up front.
“And then for us today, the team has done a great job to continue on with pushing this car. Ultimately we didn’t have the pace of the McLarens or the Red Bulls, but we just were able to hold on at the beginning of the race and it was very, very tough to hold on and make those tyres.”
