Hamilton ‘could have done more to avoid clash’ but he and Verstappen are cleared · RaceFans

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have been cleared of blame for their collision in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

However the stewards noted Hamilton “could have done more to avoid the collision.”

The pair made contact at turn one as Verstappen attempted to pass Hamilton on the inside. The Red Bull driver locked up his wheels and his left-rear wheel touched Hamilton’s front-right.

The contact pitched the Red Bull into the air and Verstappen landed heavily in the run-off area. He was able to continue, but lost another place to Charles Leclerc, who he finished behind. Hamilton took third ahead of them.

Verstappen accused Hamilton of changing his line immediately before they made contact. “He moved in the braking zone,” said the Red Bull driver on his radio.

However Hamilton denied his rival’s accusation in the car at the time. “I didn’t move the steering, mate,” he told race engineer Peter Bonnington, who agreed: “That was Verstappen, he arrived out of control into that one.”

Afterwards Hamilton described the collision between the pair as a “racing incident.”

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“When you see the pace at which they close the gap in certain corners, you just laugh at yourself because it’s not something I can do,” he said. “Particularly in the last sector, they were very, very strong, same as the McLarens.

“I saw him coming from a long way back and he was able to brake a lot later than me. But he’s sent it up the inside, I stayed still and the wheel went over. So I think a racing incident.”

Speaking after the race, Verstappen insisted Hamilton had changed his line. He compared the incident to his defending in Austria when under attack by Lando Norris, which the FIA said should have resulted in a warning for the Red Bull driver.

“I went for a move that was fully on but then in the middle of the braking zone, when I’m already committed to the move, he suddenly just keeps warping right,” Verstappen told Sky. “If I wouldn’t have turned while braking straight, I would have made contact with him. So at one point naturally I lock up because he just keeps on turning to the right.

“People always made a lot about what happened in Austria was not correct – blah, blah, blah – but that’s on the initial move, and then you just brake straight, you hold your wheel quite straight. And I felt like now it was not an initial move, but afterwards, during the braking, he keeps turning right….