Max Verstappen irked by Lewis Hamilton "wasting our time" in Miami F1 sprint duel

Max Verstappen says Lewis Hamilton “wasted our time” when the former handed a place back to him during their battle in the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix sprint.

The former championship rivals turned back the clock in Saturday’s 19-lap sprint in Miami, following a tough early battle over sixth position.

The pair made slight contact on the opening lap, before Max Verstappen launched an aggressive move into Turn 11 on lap eight that forced both himself and Lewis Hamilton off track.

He ceded the position coming out Turn 17, though was seen waving his hands at Hamilton in the process.

Speaking after the sprint, in which he was sixth on the road after besting Hamilton, but was promoted to fifth following a penalty for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Verstappen was unhappy with the time lost giving a place back.

“I mean, I had to let him by, but he doesn’t come by,” he said.

“So, we lose four seconds because he stays behind me.

“That’s where we wasted our time. I don’t know what else I could have done there, so that’s a bit of a shame.”

Verstappen was more positive about his Red Bull following Friday’s sprint qualifying, in which he was fifth on the grid.

Though experiencing a similar start issue to that experienced in China, and noting that the car was “jumping” through low-speed corners, Verstappen said his pace was “not too bad”.

“I think once we had our issues a little bit sorted, because once again the start was not that good; there was something similar to China that happened,” he explained.

“After that, after the last corner on lap one, I had no battery release.

“So, that was then making it a lot more difficult for me.

“But after that, once I was in clean air the car felt not too bad.

“I was catching again one Mercedes. So, the pace was alright, even though I think there’s still quite a lot of room for improvement on our side.

“The car is still not where I want it to be, and also in the low-speed corners the car is jumping a lot, which is a bit awkward. But, we’ll just keep going.”