Max Verstappen FLIES through the air after colliding with Lewis Hamilton during the final laps of the Hungarian Grand Prix

2024-07-21 26

Max Verstappen sensationally collided with Lewis Hamilton during the closing stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Verstappen had attempted to overtake Hamilton into turn one but ended up clipping the Mercedes driver's right front tire and went flying through the air.

After going off the track on lap 63, Verstappen lost momentum towards the end of the race, with his hopes of finishing in third place evaporating.

Verstappen had attacked from a long way back and locked up both front wheels before colliding with Hamilton.

Oscar Piastri won the race in Hungary, with Verstappen finishing in fifth place. Lando Norris came second ahead of Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen had cut a frustrated figure throughout the race.

He was placed under investigation by the stewards as a result of the collision with Hamilton.

Verstappen stressed that he felt he didn't do anything wrong regarding the incident, saying that he went for a move that was 'fully on'.

He told Sky Sports: 'I went for a move that was fully on. In the middle of the braking zone when I'm already committed to the move suddenly he just keeps warping right. If I wouldn't have turned while braking straight I would have made contact with him. Naturally, I lock up because he just keeps on turning to the right.

'People always made a lot about what happened in Austria which was not correct. That's on the initial move and then you hold your wheel quite straight. During the move, he keeps turning right. That's why I locked up because otherwise, we would have collided anyway.'

Verstappen admitted that if his team had a better strategy then the incident wouldn't have occurred.

'We'll see. At the end of the day if we'd have done a better strategy you're not in that position. I don't think that was wrong. I went for a move that was fully on, I don't think I braked too late.'

Verstappen explained his frustrations with his team's strategy during the race.

He said: 'On a day when we are already lacking pace compared to McLaren you try and hope that you do the right things with the strategy which today was not the case.

'The first one to be undercut was not ideal, but maybe you get caught out. We tried to go a bit longer but my pace was not very good. On the hard tires, I tried to close up and I got stuck again quite a long time behind Lewis and I lost a lot of seconds.

'I thought we had quite decent pace on the hard compounds but we couldn't use it because I got stuck.

'It frustrates me because I want things to be done better. P3 was on the cards.'

Verstappen stated that he doesn't feel he needs to apologize to his team regarding his vocal radio messages.

He said: 'I don't think we need to apologize, I think we just need to do a better job. I don't know why people think we cannot be vocal on the radio. This is a sport. If some people don't like that then stay home.'

Hamilton admitted that he laughed to himself following the incident, which he described as 'hair raising'.