Hamilton and Verstappen arguing

After the safety car was deployed and the race resumed on lap 6, two Red Bull cars approached and wanted to overtake Hamilton. With his experience, Hamilton prevented Verstappen from breaking up on turn 1. But on turn 2, the Dutch driver continued to steer to the right to attack. As a result, the two cars collided, sending many pieces of debris onto the road.

Over the radio of the Red Bull team, Verstappen complained that the Mercedes driver did not give him the space to race. Countering his colleague, Hamilton told the track engineer that "no racing accidents happened". Agreeing with this statement, the track directors fined Verstappen five seconds.

After the race, Hamilton criticized his juniors: "What can I say? You know what Max is like."

But Verstappen doesn't think he's wrong. The Red Bull driver told Sky Sports: "Honestly, I turned wide to pass but immediately realized he was giving me no space. I just wanted to push but there was no space. So I did. We know we'll collide."

"The collision cost Lewis the win. I got a five-second penalty. I don't mind that because we were too slow today. It's a pity, because I thought we could race together, but he did. did not expect a race as usual," Verstappen continued.

At the end of last season, Hamilton and Verstappen were also the main characters in the controversial incident at GP Abu Dhabi. At that time, the ruling in favor of Red Bull of former track supervisor Michael Masi helped Verstappen to win his first title while Hamilton missed the opportunity to set a record eight times.

This year, Verstappen won four races early, so the controversy at the Interlagos track was less noticeable. The victory at this stage belonged to Hamilton teammate George Russell and the British driver finished second. Verstappen finished sixth but was criticized for refusing orders from Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase when he asked him to let teammate Sergio Perez advance in the final lap. Last year, thanks to Perez holding back Hamilton, Verstappen won the championship.