Max Verstappen fumes at “Mickey Mouse racing" after Lewis Hamilton Madrid F1 incident
Max Verstappen lashed out after being told to hand back a position to Lewis Hamilton following their first-lap clash.
Max Verstappen fumed at what he described as being “Mickey Mouse racing” after a first-corner incident with former Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Four-time world champion cut the opening chicane to get ahead of Lewis Hamilton as they battled for position at the start. Verstappen was asked to return the place by Red Bull, which prompted a furious radio rant from the Dutchman.
Due to having also overtaken Andrea Kimi Antonelli on the first lap, Verstappen had to allow both the Mercedes driver and Hamilton through, momentarily dropping him down to fourth.
“Lewis almost shunted into me, he was out of control. If I didn’t move, he just shunted into me. I would’ve been ahead,” Verstappen complained over team radio.
Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambaise instructed his driver to give the place back to Hamilton, saying: “We think we should give the position back to Hamilton, that means letting Antonelli through as well.”
Unsurprisingly, this did not go down well with Verstappen, who angrily replied: “Mate, what the f**k are you guys talking about? He would’ve shunted it. Like what are you guys talking about? If I just stay on the track, I am out of the race.”
After re-passing Hamilton, who was forced to retire with a brake failure, Verstappen returned to the airwaves to say: “He can give me the position now, f**king bullsh*t. F**king mickey-mouse racing this is.”
Speaking when he had calmed down after finishing second in the race, Verstappen explained his view of what happened at the start.
“I would have had damage at the start if I would have stayed on track. So then the win was also not on. It's as simple as that,” he said.
“I just did my own thing in Turn 1, but Lewis went for a move on the first two and bottomed out on the curbs. So he just jumped back onto the track, and that's why I had to go off the road.
"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.”
Hamilton disagreed with Verstappen’s take, feeling “It was pretty good racing to be honest”.
When asked about Verstappen’s complaints over the radio, Hamilton responded: “Nothing to do with me.”
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