Hamilton explains incident with Verstappen at last corner

If the battles of the title contenders Lewis hamilton and Max Verstappen in the first two corners of the Jeddah circuit were in the spotlight during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver – sanctioned several times – keeps another incident slipped through his throat.

Indeed, at the end of the race, he tried to overtake Hamilton from the outside at the last corner, but the Englishman took a wide trajectory and did not leave him room on the track, Verstappen admitting defeat after having rolled into the loophole.

Race director Michael Masi then warned the team manager to Mercedes, Ron Meadows, that this Hamilton maneuver was on the verge of being worth a black and white flag, and Verstappen himself took advantage of this example to complain that he was being treated more harshly than some of his rivals.

“He packed me off the track”, says the Dutchman. “He even looked at me [dans ses rétroviseurs], and it didn’t turn, it just squeezed me past the white line, off the edge of the track. And he only got one warning for that. It really shouldn’t be that way in my opinion, and that isn’t fair either, because it looks like other riders can do different things, and only I am penalized. “

Asked about this by Motorsport.com this Thursday, Hamilton nevertheless defends itself from any malicious intent. “I found that quite strange because, first of all, I could use the whole track, I had passed Max, I was completely in front; it wasn’t like I was next to him and that I had pushed him out “, analyzes the Mercedes driver.

“I wanted to make sure I got out of the turn as well as possible. So I entered it with a wide trajectory, Max tried – I think I didn’t see the footage again – to dive outside, but he didn’t. There was no room. Then I got out of the turn, as planned. I didn’t go past the white line. I wasn’t trying to push him out on purpose. In fact, I didn’t think he was. there, because I thought I had passed it and that it was behind us. “

Hamilton and Verstappen will in any case have to keep to diamonds this weekend in Abu Dhabi, where the world title will be played, the race director having dotted the i’s in the face of any risk of unsportsmanlike conduct.

With Alex Kalinauckas