HUNGARY: Lewis Hamilton has accused Lewis Hamilton of hostility after their latest incident at the Hungarian F1 Grand Prix.
As they battled for the final podium position at the Hungaroring, Verstappen was momentarily sent airborne as he attempted to overtake Hamilton at the first corner.
Verstappen braked too late and locked the front wheels as Hamilton tried to turn the corner.
The Dutchman felt Hamilton moved when braking, while the seven-time world champion laughed off suggestions he was to blame.
Following a post-race investigation, the stewards decided to take no action regarding the collision.
It is not the first time that the two former rivals for the F1 title have met on the track.
At the FIA’s post-race press conference, Hamilton explained why Verstappen “will always be” animosity.
“I mean, I think, from what I remember, we obviously missed the backmarker. I got into the braking zone and then Max appeared to overtake the car behind me so I moved to the defense.
“I left enough room inside, but Max locked up and took a different trajectory than I did. I was walking towards, around the corner, and he bumped. It felt like a racing incident.
“And it’s easy to make mistakes like that. And so I don’t feel that there should be any animosity. But from his side, of course, there will always be,” he added.
It was another impressive performance for Hamilton as he followed up his victory at Silverstone with a podium finish.
Sunday’s results mean he has overtaken Sergio Perez and George Russell in the F1 drivers’ championship ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. It was also the 200th podium of his F1 career.
“Number no, no. Just thinking about these two and how young these guys are. They were in their infancy when I started, so… No, honestly, it just makes me think about the whole journey and all the great people I’ve had the chance to work with.
“You know, I signed for McLaren when I was 13, so there was always so much love for the team and the journey we went through, where I had my first world championship and then they went through a really tough period. seeing them up there is really, really cool. I am really happy.
“You know that’s my old family, so really, really grateful to be here with them. And finally I think it was a tough race today and I certainly didn’t think I would have 200 podiums, but what did I do? Like the 340 races?
“So it’s not such a bad score, but I couldn’t have done it without all the great people I’ve worked with on both of those teams.
