Verstappen: 'Hamilton had no intention of leaving me space'

Max Verstappen says he knew as soon as he drew alongside Lewis Hamilton that the Mercedes driver had no intention of leaving him space at Turn 2 where the pair collided in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

As the field barreled down into the first corner on the restart of the race after the early safety car, Hamilton held the inside line but found himself on the outside of Verstappen as they headed into Turn 2.

The Red Bull driver hugged the inside of the corner, but was squeezed by Hamilton, forcing the Red Bull driver onto the kerb where the pair made contact, with Verstappen's car coming off worse with a broken front wing that required a pit stop.

The stewards put the clash under investigation and ruled that Verstappen was predominantly to blame for the collision, handing the Dutchman a five-second penalty.

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"I just felt it, as soon as I was going next to him, that he had no intention to leave me space," said Verstappen. "And okay, if you don't leave me space, are we just going to collide?

"I thought after last year, we maybe forget about it, we can finally race you know. Because first of all, when I went side by side, I thought okay, let's have a good race here.

"But then you feel it with a driver, if he's going to leave space or not. And there was zero intention to leave me space."

For many, the run-in was a mere racing incident, and Verstappen was surprised by the stewards pointing the finger at him.

"Yeah, to be honest, I was surprised when I got the five second penalty," he explained. "I mean, I was not upset. But if you asked me, 'would I do it again?' Absolutely."

Verstappen believes that Hamilton could have still won the corner had he given a little bit more space.

"I was, well I can say, 85% alongside, and my intention is never to crash," he said. "But I could feel he was just not going to leave me the space into that corner. And then yeah, we collide.

"If he would have just moved a little bit, he probably would have stayed ahead anyway. And it's a shame.

"I want to race. I want to have a good fight, but when the other one doesn't want to work with you…."

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