JOIN USThat's not how you celebrate a win, says Verstappen as Hamilton row goes on
Max Verstappen remained bruised and unhappy with Lewis Hamilton despite clearing the air with him during a phone call following their spectacular crash at the British Grand Prix.
The championship leading Dutchman said he had received a call from Hamilton to talk about their opening lap collision, but declined to go into any detail, adding instead that he was more upset by the defending champion's post-race celebrations.
"One guy is in hospital, the other guy is waving the flag around like nothing has happened while you pushed the guy into the wall with 51Gs," he told a news conference on Thursday ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.
"And not only that, just the whole reaction of the team. That's not how you celebrate a win. Especially a win -- how they got it.
"That's what I found really disrespectful. In a way, it shows how they really are. It comes out after a pressure situation. I wouldn't want to be seen like that."
Verstappen distanced himself from claims made by his Red Bull team boss Christian Horner who accused seven-time champion Hamilton of "dirty driving".
"That's the first time I heard it like that. No, I think he just misjudged the moment in that corner."
He added that he felt the 10-second penalty given to Hamilton was too lenient.
"I don't think the penalty was correct because basically you take out your main rival and, especially with the speed we have in our cars, we are miles ahead of, let's say, the third-best team.
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"We are easily 40, 50 seconds ahead in normal conditions. So, a 10 second penalty doesn't do anything so definitely that penalty should have been more severe."
The Dutchman holds an eight-point lead over Hamilton ahead of the 11th race of the season on Sunday, subject to a possible review of the Silverstone result that could be triggered by Red Bull's attempt to persuade a stewards hearing, later Thursday afternoon, that the penalty was insufficiently severe.
Verstappen's former Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo said he had seen nothing that was "out of line" in the incident and suggested it was a racing incident.
"Watching Max's on-board, there was room on the inside," he said.
"Of course, they were racing hard, but I would still say hard but fair through those phases of corners."
Hamilton's compatriot George Russell of Williams, who replaced him when he missed the Sakhir Grand Prix with Covid-19 last season, said he saw no malice in the collision.
"In my view, that was absolutely a racing incident," said Russell.
"There are no sort of rules in that aspect that can say who is right or who is wrong, because it's just one of those things. Sometimes, there is no right or wrong, it's just a racing incident.
"Lewis is one of the cleanest and fairest racers out there, always, and there was nothing malicious in the attempt because there was a clear opportunity."