Verstappen still thinks Hamilton clash at F1 Monza was a “racing incident”

The pair collided on Lap 26 at Monza as the pair went side-by-side through the opening sequence of corners. 

As Verstappen attempted to go up the inside of Hamilton into Turn 2, he clipped the sausage kerb, sending his Red Bull car airborne and on to the top of his rival.

The Dutchman was handed a three-place grid penalty for his role in the incident which will be served at this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix. 

Ahead of the weekend, he said: “I think you can reflect all you like but it’s important to look forward and keep pushing. I still believe it was a racing incident, but we have been given a three-place grid penalty and we just have to work with it now. 

“The race in Monza definitely wasn’t our day for many reasons, but now I just plan to look forward to Sochi.”

Verstappen scored Red Bull’s first-ever podium at the Sochi Autodrom in 2020 as he finished second behind Valtteri Bottas. 

“It was great to finish second there last year in Sochi especially as it has never been a good track for us as a team,” Verstappen added. “We have been more competitive this year and we have a better package at the moment so it will be interesting to see how competitive we can be there this year. 

“It will be of course completely different to Monza and it looks like there might be some rain this weekend. The track itself and the layout is completely different to the previous races so I’m definitely looking forward to going back there and seeing what we can do.”

With Mercedes winning every Russian Grand Prix since 2014, Sergio Perez admits that the reigning world champions are clear favourites for this weekend. 

“Mercedes have won every race at Sochi since 2014 so they're the favourites this weekend,” Perez said. “They're definitely going to be hard to beat but like always we will give it our best. Sochi is a track I like because it is very technical, fast and fluid which I think makes qualifying quite exciting.”