Hamilton: 'Celebrating victory was not disrespectful'

The incident between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton is still a hot topic almost two weeks later. This weekend will be the first race where both drivers will meet and race each other again.

While it is now known that Hamilton's penalty will remain as it is, despite protests from Red Bull, the discussion afterwards focused on the way he celebrated his victory with his fans. Hamilton has responded to that to Motorsport.com.

"I don't believe our behaviour was disrespectful. Like I said, it's one thing knowing and then celebrating what happened, and one thing not knowing and celebrating. And as I also said, I was not aware of it."

Hamilton defends celebrating victory

Because it was, as the Briton himself says, his home race in retrospect he has no regrets about celebrating in this way, partly because he didn't know what was going on with Verstappen.

"It's my home Grand Prix, and we've worked incredibly hard for who knows how long to get a result like during that weekend. And what a monumental moment it was for us to have the whole home crowd witness it, which obviously had been missed since last year, and emotions ran high afterwards."

"It wasn't an intentional celebration," continued the Brit. "It was just the joy of seeing so many people celebrating being together and that's the natural emotion. I'm not going to hide my emotions. And it was a great feeling to see so many people."

Anyway: this weekend there will be more racing again. Verstappen will be looking to get revenge for the weekend in England, while Hamilton will be looking to catch up further with the summer break just around the corner.