Max Verstappen told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase that the medical delegate should go ‘to the stewards to see if they’re okay’ after he crashed with Lewis Hamilton at the Hungaroring.
The Dutchman was tetchy from the get-go at the Hungarian Grand Prix, ranting to his race engineer over the radio after being told to hand a position back to second-placed Lando Norris on lap three.
Verstappen came onto the radio again after Lambiase made a joke about his tyre warm-up at the start of his final stint. “You gave gave me this s*** strategy,” he raged. “I’m trying to rescue what’s left.”
The three-time world champion’s tirades didn’t end there. On lap 63, Verstappen lunged down the inside on Hamilton at Turn One. The pair collided and the Red Bull driver was flipped airborne, sending him off track and costing him two places.
After the race, as a result of the contact, Lambiase informed Verstappen that he would be visited by a medical delegate as the impact of the crash exceeded the automatic trigger threshold.
This didn’t go down well with Verstappen, who protested: “Let them send that medical delegate to the stewards to see if they are okay. I’m completely fine.”
The 26-year-old had the opportunity to tell the FIA firsthand. Verstappen was summoned to the stewards after the session to discuss his contact with Hamilton.
Hamilton’s reaction to the contact may play into Verstappen’s favour. “Obviously the close battle we had at the end was a bit hair-raising, but that’s motor racing,” he said.
“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.
“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, I stayed still, and he clipped the wheel and went over. I think a racing incident.”
