After the safety car was deployed and the race resumed on lap 6, the two Red Bull cars closed in and tried to overtake Hamilton. With his experience, Hamilton prevented Verstappen from breaking away at turn 1. But at turn 2, the Dutch driver continued to steer to the right to attack. As a result, the two cars collided, sending debris flying onto the track.
Over the Red Bull team radio, Verstappen complained that the Mercedes driver was not giving him space to race. In response to his colleague, Hamilton told the race engineer that “there was no racing accident”. Agreeing with this assessment, the race directors penalized Verstappen five seconds.
After the race, Hamilton criticized his junior: “What can I say? You know what Max is like”.
But Verstappen did not think he was wrong. “To be honest, I went wide to overtake but immediately I realised he wasn’t giving me space. I just wanted to go but there was no space. So I knew we were going to collide,” the Red Bull driver told Sky Sports.
“The collision cost Lewis the win. I got a five-second penalty. I don’t mind because we were too slow today. It’s a shame because I thought we could race together, but he didn’t want a normal race,” Verstappen continued.
Hamilton and Verstappen were also at the centre of a controversial incident at the Abu Dhabi GP at the end of last season. A ruling in favour of Red Bull by former race supervisor Michael Masi meant Verstappen won his first title while Hamilton missed out on a record eighth.
This year, Verstappen won four races early, so the controversy at Interlagos was less noticeable. Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell won the race, with the Briton finishing second. Verstappen finished sixth but was criticised for refusing orders from Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to let team-mate Sergio Perez pass on the final lap. Last year, Perez held Hamilton back and Verstappen won the title.