Verstappen: Hamilton celebrations showed ‘how Mercedes really are’

Following a 51G crash after their controversial first-lap collision at Silverstone, Verstappen posted a message on social media from his hospital bed hitting out at the manner in which Hamilton celebrated his eighth British GP win.

Hamilton claimed a crucial home win after fighting back from a 10-second time penalty to significantly reduce Verstappen’s championship lead, prompting an emotion-charged celebration in front of a packed-out Silverstone. The seven-time world champion admitted after the race that he was not aware that Verstappen was in hospital at the time he was celebrating.

But Verstappen, who revealed Hamilton had called him to discuss the coming together, remained unmoved in his stance.

“To me disrespectful is when one guy is in the hospital and the other one is waving the flag around like nothing has happened when you pushed the guy into the wall at 51G," said Verstappen.

"And not only that, just the whole reaction of the team besides that, I think. That's not how you celebrate the win, especially a win how they got it.

"That's what I found really disrespectful and in a way I mean it shows how they really are. It comes out after a pressured situation, but I wouldn't want to be seen like that.”

Asked if he plans to race Hamilton differently in future, Verstappen replied: “I don’t think so, because from my side I didn’t do anything wrong.

“I fought hard, I defended hard, but not aggressive, because if it would have been aggressive I could have squeezed him into the inside wall, but I did give him the space and then I just opened up my corner.

“When you then commit on the inside like he did and not back out expecting that you can do the same speed on that angle that I had on the outside you are going to of course crash into me.

"I’m on the outside, I’m opening up my corner not expecting him to commit and he just understeered into the rear of my car. There’s not much I can do I think.

“Of course people easily say I’m an aggressive driver or whatever, which I don’t think I am,” he added. “I’m a hard driver, I race hard, but at the end of the day I think I know quite well how I have to position my car and I haven’t been involved in accidents where I run into people.

“I have zero penalty points as well, so I think that already says quite a bit. Of course always people have different opinions but from my side that’s how I see it.”

Verstappen stressed he is keen to move on from the incident as he looks to bounce back at this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix. 

“You anyway can’t change the outcome," he explained. "I’m not happy with what happened there, especially to lose that many points due to someone else, but it is what it is.

"I can’t really say a lot more about it. I hit the wall quite hard which is never what you want but we will try and have a good weekend here.”