Max Verstappen is unhappy with the way Lewis Hamilton overtook him on the first lap of the Australian Grand Prix, saying the rules aren’t being followed.
The Red Bull driver started the race from pole position but was passed by George Russell at the first corner before coming under attack from the other Mercedes.
Hamilton moved down the inside of Verstappen at turn three and did not move fully ahead of him as they reached the corner. Verstappen ran wide at the exit, and lost the position to his rival.
Verstappen said he had to take evasive action because of the positioning of Hamilton’s car. “From my side, I just tried to avoid contact,” he explained. “It’s quite clear in the rules what you are allowed to do now in the outside, but maybe it’s not followed.”
Revised racing guidelines were issued to drivers ahead of the 2022 season stating what they must do in order to be left room by a rival.
After the race was red-flagged for the first time, Verstappen was able to retake the position from Hamilton later using DRS. “We had good pace, we passed them anyway,” he said. “But it’s something for the next races to take into account.”
Despite losing the advantage of pole position at the start, Verstappen was always confident he would be able to take the fight to the Mercedes drivers.
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“We had a very poor start,” he said. “I was careful because I had a lot to lose, they had a lot to win.
After that I think the pace of the car was quick, you could see that straight away. We were always there, waiting for the DRS to open up to have a chance to pass.”
After passing Hamilton Verstappen built up a healthy lead, but lost several seconds when he skidded off at turn 13.
“I think I did the city a favour, I just cut the grass a bit more,” he joked. “I locked up a bit and didn’t want to flat spot the tyre completely. So ran a bit wide, but we had a good margin.”
The race ended in peculiar circumstances as a late red flag led to a standing restart with two laps to go. The race was red-flagged again and restarted for a single lap behind the Safety Car.
Verstappen admitted he didn’t fully agree with how the race had been handled. “With these red flags, I don’t know,” he said. “The first time maybe you can do it but I think that second one I don’t really understand.
“So it was a bit of a mess but we survived everything. We had good pace in the car today again and we won which of…
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