Brazilian GP: Was the Verstappen-Hamilton crash pre-meditated? Dutchman hints

Max Verstappen tried to overtake Lewis Hamilton after the safety car period early in the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday. The Red Bull Racing driver has since indicated that he was expecting a possible collision between him and his Mercedes rival, but still pushed through with the move.

The Dutch racer, who started in P3, was looking to pass Hamilton for second place going into Turn 2. Verstappen was on the inside, while the Mercedes was on the outside, and they made contact leaving the Red Bull with a part of its front wing missing.

The 2022 Formula 1 Drivers' World Champion had to dive into the pits for a new nose, but Hamilton, who dropped to sixth, escaped without any damage to his car. Initially, it looked like the Mercedes driver had left no room for Verstappen, but the stewards thought otherwise and penalised the Dutchman with a five-second penalty.

Both drivers blamed each other in the immediate aftermath of the incident, but Verstappen revealed later that he was expecting to make contact. The Dutchman, who has wrapped up the title feels the accident was more damaging to Hamilton than him.

"To be honest, I went around the outside, and I immediately felt he was not going to leave space. I just went for it, he didn't leave me space, so I knew we were going to get together," Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.

Verstappen dropped to 18th after the collision and his forced pitstop, but fought back to finish sixth at the end of the race. For Hamilton, it was more costly, as it cost him valuable time in the battle for the race win against his teammate and eventual winner George Russell.

The two-time world champion stated that Hamilton had no intention of racing clean when he attempted the move, but indicated that he was not concerned as he had little to lose.

"It cost him the race win, for me it gave me five seconds. It wouldn't have mattered anything for my race, because we were just way too slow. But it's just a shame, I thought we could race quite well together, but clearly the intention was not there to race," the Red Bull driver added.

Hamilton, meanwhile, had little to say when asked about his collision with Verstappen at the start of the race. The Briton, who is no stranger to colliding with the Dutch racer, simply said: "What can I say you know how it is with Max."