Max Verstappen was sent off the track in a collision with Lewis Hamilton late on in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri claimed his maiden victory but with seven laps remaining, Hamilton and his long-term rival were involved in one of the race’s most dramatic moments.
Verstappen went to take the inside on the first corner but was clipped by the Mercedes man, with his back-left wheel being sent into the air.
He was then forced off the track and dropped down to fifth in the standings, with a yellow flag called following the incident.
Verstappen claimed that Hamilton had moved into his ‘braking zone’, although it was later confirmed that not further action would be taken.
Red Bull engineer Gianpiero Lambiase replied: “I’m not even going to get into a radio fight with the other teams, Max. We’ll let the stewards do their thing. It’s childish on the radio, childish.”
Hamilton was on hand to stay third until the end of the race and seal a podium finish, the 200th of his glittering Formula 1 career.
However, Verstappen will likely feel aggrieved on what proved to be a frustrating day for the reigning world champion.
The Dutchman was forced off the track on the first corner after lights out when Lando Norris was forced wide by McLaren teammate Piastri.
He was able to return to the track in second but then told to hand the position back to Norris, who started on pole.
Verstappen’s incident with Hamilton later on in the race seemed to sum up his afternoon before eventually finishing fifth, with he and his Red Bull team having tense radio conversations.
He was heard at one point saying in response to a suggestion he had pushed too hard on his medium set of tyres in the final stint: “You guys gave me this s*** strategy, OK? I’m trying to rescue what’s left.”
“I don’t think we need to apologise,” the driver said when discussing the bad tempered radio messages. “We just need to do a better job.
“I don’t know why people think you can’t be vocal on the radio. This is a sport. If some people don’t like that, stay home.”
When asked for a response to criticism that he was disrespectful to this team, he said: “They can all f*** off.”
The 26-year-old had also still been awake at 3am playing sim racing, just hours before he was due to race in real life.
Former F1 driver Nico Rosberg, speaking to Sky Sports, thought that was disappointing, pointing out the professionalism shown by Lando Norris for being more regimented with sleep.
He said: “I was quite impressed, actually, because he has learned how to become a more professional athlete. When he started F1, especially against Ricciardo, he wasn’t really trying to be perfect as an athlete. Last night his bedtime was 11:05, not 11:00, 05. Wake up was 8:05, and breakfast was already set, like exactly what to eat. So he was hyper-professional, which was nice to know.
“At the same time, in contrast, you have Verstappen, who until 3:00 a.m. last night was sim-racing. That’s a bit disappointing, isn’t it? It just shows that he’s too used to his ease of domination.”
Hamilton took third behind Norris in second and Piastri first for a McLaren one-two – their first since 2021 – but their victory wasn’t short of drama either.
Piastri took the lead off Norris at the start of the race and it looked as though he was heading towards an easy victory.
However, McLaren offered to send the latter into the pits before him and therefore undercut the race leader.
This was McLaren’s first one-two since the 2021 Italian Grand PrixCredit: Getty
They asked Norris to hand the position back to Piastri several times as they headed into the final laps.
Norris was then reminded of his responsibility to the team with his engineer, Will Joseph, heard reminding him to ‘remember every Sunday morning meeting’ and ‘I tried to protect you’.
He was also told that “the way to win a championship is with the team – you’re going to need Oscar and you’re going to need the team”.
At one point, Joseph had to perform a radio check to ensure Norris was getting the messages. “Loud and clear,” came the reply.
Norris argued that Piastri would have to catch him before he would let him by but all the time he was extending his lead. Eventually, with two laps to go, he let him pass.
“I was going to wait until the last corner, last lap. But they said if there was a safety car all of a sudden, then I couldn’t let Oscar go through and it would have made me look like a bit of an idiot and I was like, fair point, so I let him go two laps to go.
“You can make of it what you will, of what you hear and what you think you know, but I know I was always going to give it back unless they changed their mind and they didn’t, so all good.”
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