Lewis Hamilton made eight-word Max Verstappen accusation during Austin GP duel

F1 stars Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are back in contention for the United States Grand Prix sprint, with the Mercedes star pushing his Red Bull teammate as hard as he can.

Lewis Hamilton felt Max Verstappen used the track more than he let on during the battle for the United States Grand Prix.

Verstappen started the sprint with Charles Leclerc behind. He responded to the Ferrari driver’s challenge with an aggressive defence, but a new threat soon emerged in the form of his old Formula 1 rival.

Hamilton passed Leclerc and Verstappen for several laps.
He couldn’t find a way out of the jam, but the seven-time world champion credited his Red Bull teammate for taking the liberty of accepting the on-track restrictions.

“Max ran away several times.” the Mercedes man stated as he tried to get the race controller’s attention with his accusations.
However, no investigation was conducted on the race leaders.

Verstappen has finally managed to get out of Mercedes’ DRS range. From that moment, he ran and never looked back.
He eventually completed the 19-lap sprint in 9.4 seconds.

He then said he could have started much earlier if he wanted to, but that he had good tire control and was able to stay within striking distance of Hamilton.
“It was very tight, but luckily I had a lot of space in Turn 1, so that definitely helped,” Verstappen said of his early defense against Leclerc.
“Then we can run our own race, pace ourselves a bit and have fun at the end.
“For a couple of laps it was always eight or nine-tenths between him and Hamilton, so he was able to control him all the way into the braking zone, but DRS with such a big wing is very strong here.
“Once we got through the DRS window we all got into a rhythm and I think the car had really good speed today.”

Verstappen has some work to do to repeat his performance in the grand prix. He will start sixth on the grid after missing out on pole in qualifying for a track violation, so he will need to catch up if he is to claim a remarkable 15th win in just 18 races until 2023.
And he made it clear that was his goal, even though the title was in stitches. The Dutchman added: “Tomorrow’s sixth start will be different to today, but I think it will be exciting and I hope we have a good time.” But of course I want to win.”