Verstappen on incidents with Hamilton: 'Has nothing to do with sprint race'

At the Mexico Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas opened the door for Max Verstappen, allowing the Dutchman to overtake him easily and take the lead. Verstappen doesn't think the Finn could have done anything differently at the start.

Sky Sports ask Verstappen about the first corner in Mexico. "Lewis was on the inside so I don't think Valtteri could've done more than he did. He didn't want to touch Lewis so it's normal the guy in the middle backs out", he begins.

Verstappen is looking forward to Brazil, but can only judge the pace of Red Bull and Mercedes after Friday's sessions. "We should be alright. I always find it difficult on the Thursday to really judge anything. We just have to start driving first. We first have to get out there, it's all a bit limited with sprint qualifying. I'm looking forward to it, it's been good to us in the past. But I know it's not going to be like Mexico just because of the altitude change but that's how it's been all year."

In the previous two races, Verstappen crashed out the day after the sprint race due to a collision with Lewis Hamilton. "I don't think that's sprint qualifying related", he says. The Dutchman has a clear goal in mind. "We need to be first and second, try to score as much points as possible. That's the target from the teams point of view."