Two drivers walked away from the first corners of the Spanish Grand Prix with entirely different versions of the same six seconds of racing.
Verstappen used the Turn 1 escape road, was ordered by his engineer to hand back two places, and later held his line in the media pen. Hamilton, told what Verstappen had been shouting on team radio, offered a shrug.
“I thought it was pretty good racing to be honest,” Hamilton told reporters after the race.
Asked about Verstappen’s rant, he added: “Nothing to do with me.”
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Verstappen told RacingNews365 that the Ferrari was already sliding across the kerb by the time he decided to leave the track.
“I just did my own thing in Turn 1, but Lewis went for a move on the first two and bottomed out on the kerb, so he just jumped back onto the track, and that’s why I had to go off the road.”
The Dutchman had gained two places by rejoining ahead of Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli. Race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase ordered him to hand both back, briefly dropping Verstappen to fourth. That was the moment the radio boiled over.
“He can give me the position now, f***ing bullshit,” Verstappen said over the airwaves. “F***ing mickey-mouse racing this is.”
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Verstappen defends the escape road
Staying on the racing line, in his telling, would have ended his afternoon in the run to Turn 2.
“If I would have stayed there, I would have definitely had contact. So, then my race could have potentially been over in Turn 2, and that’s why I think, where we are now, I’m happy to be.”
Brake failure ended Hamilton’s argument on lap seven
The dispute lost half its voice not long after. Hamilton’s Ferrari brakes gave way on lap seven, and he pulled off before he had any chance to rejoin the fight for the podium.
“The pedal took a step and it wouldn’t stop all of a sudden,” Hamilton said.
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He returned to the fault later, describing the moment it finally forced him out: “The pedal went long. That was it.”
Verstappen 147 points off the top
Antonelli won at the Madring after inheriting the lead in a virtual safety car cycle that caught out Lando Norris. Verstappen was second, Norris third.
Antonelli now leads the drivers’ championship on 292 points, 81 clear of Mercedes team-mate George Russell. Verstappen sits sixth in the standings on 145 points, 147 behind the leader.
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