22 October 2023 , 00:22
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Lewis Hamilton felt Max Verstappen was using more of the track than is allowed as they battled in the United States Grand Prix Sprint.
Verstappen started the short-form race on pole with Charles Leclerc just behind him. He saw off the challenge of the Ferrari racer with some aggressive defending off the line, but soon a new threat emerged in the form of his old Formula 1 rival.
Hamilton swept past Leclerc and was all over Verstappen for several laps. He was unable to find a way past, but the seven-time world champion felt that was because his Red Bull counterpart was taking liberties with track limits.
"Max has gone off quite a few times," the Mercedes man reported over the radio, clearly trying to capture the attention of race control with his accusation. But no investigation into the race leader was forthcoming.
And, eventually, Verstappen was able to move out of DRS range of the Mercedes. From that point, he sped off into the distance and never looked back, winning the 19-lap dash by 9.4 seconds in the end.
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He insisted afterwards that he could have pulled away much sooner if he wanted to, but claimed he was managing his tyres which was what allowed Hamilton to stay within striking distance.
"It was quite tight but luckily there is a lot of space going into Turn 1, so that definitely helped," Verstappen said of his early defence against Leclerc. "After that, we could do our own race, control the pace a little bit and have a bit of fun at the end, pushing a little bit more.
"It was always eight-or-nine-tenths [of a seconds between him and Hamilton] for a few laps so that was all controllable into the braking zones. But the DRS with such big wings are quite powerful here. Once I cleared the DRS [window], we all settled in our own rhythms and I think the pace of the car was very good today."
Verstappen will have to work a little harder to repeat the result in the main Grand Prix. He starts sixth on the grid after his pole lap was deleted in qualifying for a track limits violation, and so he will have to overtake if he is to record a remarkable 15th win from just 18 races so far in 2023.
And he made it clear that is his target, even if he already has the title sewn up. The Dutchman added: "Starting sixth tomorrow will be different to today, but it makes it interesting and hopefully we can have fun. But, of course, I want to win."