Verstappen: 'I could have pushed Hamilton into the wall'

Almost two weeks after the infamous clash between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, the two protagonists finally have had their say during the press conference in Hungary. Verstappen is ready to go again despite the hard blow.

Tough but not aggressive

Verstappen still believes he did nothing wrong during the fatal overtaking attempt by Hamilton, but it did cost him a large part of his lead in the championship. "I defended hard, but not aggressively," the Dutchman told Formule1.nl, among others, in the press conference. "I don't think I did anything wrong. I could have pushed him into the wall as well."

Verstappen therefore describes himself as a hard, but fair driver. "I know how to position my car. I have zero penalty points, that says enough in my opinion. I don't care much what other people say." Later in the race, Hamilton did make a successful overtaking move on Charles Leclerc, at the same corner. "I even left more space than Charles left," Verstappen said of the two overtaking attempts.

True face of Mercedes

Immediately after the race, Verstappen expressed his opinion about the way Hamilton celebrated his victory. He called it disrespectful and he still stands by that. "You can't pretend after a victory like that that nothing is wrong," he is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. "Especially not after you've tapped someone off the track and that competitor is in hospital. That's just not possible. I would never do that in any case. This shows what Mercedes is really like."

Hamilton misjudged

Hamilton has been regularly accused of foul play in recent weeks, but the Red Bull Racing driver believes none of that. "I think he just got the corner wrong," he said. Verstappen does not think the incident will change his relationship with Hamilton. "We are drivers, we just carry on. I'm not happy with what happened, but we'll both keep pushing for the title and we'll keep racing each other as best we can - at least I do."