Verstappen on start: "If I would've steered in I would've hit Hamilton"

After suffering contact with Lewis Hamilton and a puncture in the fourth lap of the Mexican Grand Prix, Max Verstappen didn't have the best of starts at the race where he won the previous two editions, as the Dutchman was frustrated his afternoon basically ended there.

A good start saw Verstappen move up Hamilton's inside heading into turn one, although this meant the Brit would have the inside line for the second part of the chicane. However, the Mercedes lost a bit of control and he went across the track and left Verstappen no room, leaving the Dutchman no option but to brave the grass.

"I made the best of it [the race], after a sh** start," the 22-year-old told Ziggo Sport.

"My start was good and Lewis came around the outside and very deep into turn two. If I had steered in I would've hit him, so I had to go on the grass."

He dropped to eighth, behind Valtteri Bottas. After four laps, he decided to go for it and send it up the Finn's inside heading into the stadium section, where he pulled off a move. He suffered a puncture, though, which left him limping for an entire track before coming in.

"I'll have to look back at the footage to see what went wrong. It did make me do a full lap with a puncture. 

"The hard tyre was better than expected, which made the guys at the front do a one-stop, but my stop was very long, of course," he referred to his 66-lap stint on a tyre which life is estimated around 50 laps.

Verstappen finished the race in sixth, right behind teammate Alexander Albon.