BAHRAIN- Lewis Hamilton formula one champion has accused Max Verstappen of lacking respect in trying to force his way past him in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
In the past Hamilton has spoken glowingly of the 20 year old driver and sees him as a future champion but was not happy with Verstappen, expressing his anger and used some strong language to reporters to express his dismay.
He told reporters, “There needs to be a certain respect between drivers. ”
“Maybe I need to go and watch the manoeuvre again, but it didn’t feel like a respectful manoeuvre.”
Hamilton finished third, after starting the race in 9 position, Verstappen started 15 after the Red Bull driver crashed in Saturday’s qualifying session.
Verstappen, dived down the inside of Hamilton into the first corner at the start of lap two in an attempt to get to 10th position. Hamilton emerged untouched after the collision, but Verstappen punctured his tyre, damaged his gearbox which forced him to retire the entire race.
After looking at the footage, Hamilton later told reporters, “If you look at it, I was actually ahead for quite a period of time,” Hamilton later told reporters after having gone through replays of the incident.
“Then I accepted defeat and I just backed out because I knew he was going to try and run me wide. But then he just kept going. He didn’t need to keep going … because I had already backed out.”
Verstappen has blamed Hamilton for causing the collision, as the British driver used strong language after seeing the replays and had to step aside to cool down before the podium celebrations.
Photo Credit- TimesLIVE
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