Max Verstappen explains his controversial start incident with Lewis Hamilton and why, despite his own conviction, he had to give the position back
Max Verstappen got the most out of his Red Bull by finishing second in the first Formula 1 race at the Madring. However, the Dutchman had to give a position back to Lewis Hamilton in the early stages, effectively losing two places. Verstappen did not agree with this – but knew that he would otherwise have faced a time penalty.
‘What am I supposed to do? If they tell me I have to do it, then I’ll do it,’ Verstappen explained after the race. His race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, had instructed him to let Hamilton back past. As Kimi Antonelli was between Verstappen and Hamilton at that point, this meant, in practice, giving up two places.
Verstappen is convinced that refusing to do so would not have been an option. ‘If I hadn’t done that, I’d have got a penalty. No chance,’ said the Red Bull driver.
Verstappen still believes he was in the right
However, Verstappen does not blame himself for the decisive incident on the first lap. The Red Bull driver explains that Hamilton lost control of his car whilst driving over the kerbs and then jumped back onto the track.
“I would have suffered damage at the start if I’d stayed on the track. Then victory wouldn’t have been possible either. It’s as simple as that,” says Verstappen.
He says he was simply following his own line through Turn 1. Hamilton, on the other hand, had tried to overtake the two cars in front of him and ended up hitting the kerb in the process. “Lewis went for the first two drivers and hit the kerb. He simply bounced back onto the track, which is why I had to go off the track,” explains Verstappen.
For him, swerving was necessary to avoid a collision. “If I’d stayed there, I would definitely have made contact. Then my race might well have been over as early as Turn Two. That’s why I’m glad we’re where we are now.”
“We didn’t have Kimi’s pace”
Despite the podium finish, Verstappen did not want second place to be seen as proof of a genuine chance of victory for Red Bull. “We maximised the result and probably had a bit of luck too, naturally due to the unfortunate situation for Lando,” he said.
Against Antonelli, Red Bull simply did not have the necessary speed. “I didn’t have Kimi’s pace and definitely not Lando’s,” Verstappen clarified. Second place was therefore a strong result, but something was still missing for a genuine battle for victory.
The fact that Verstappen was at times less than a second behind Antonelli in the final sector had created a misleading impression. “It might have looked a bit as though we were in a battle for the win. But that was more because Kimi was held up by Charles,” explains Verstappen.
As soon as Antonelli had a clear run, the Mercedes driver pulled away again. At the same time, Verstappen had to defend himself against pressure from Lando Norris behind him. Overtaking on the Madring circuit had been difficult anyway.
Red Bull cannot continue development at will
Verstappen therefore still sees Red Bull as trailing the leaders by a clear margin. “That’s the only thing we can do at the moment,” he says, referring to getting the most out of every weekend and occasionally benefiting from others’ misfortune.
At the same time, the team must continue to improve the overall package. “Now we need to make our package – our overall package – a bit stronger so that we can really get into a potential battle for victory.”
The problem is that Red Bull now has only limited scope for further development. Due to the budget cap, the team cannot simply maintain the pace of development seen in the first half of the season. Laurent Mekies had already admitted that the financial constraints are limiting further development.
Verstappen had also stated at Monza that, whilst there are still some updates to come for the 2026 car, the focus behind the scenes is already on 2027.
