Verstappen, 23, had previously stated that despite clearing the air with Hamilton during a phone call following their spectacular crash, he was still dissatisfied with Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton stated on Thursday that he would be willing to repeat his attempt to pass Max Verstappen at the British Grand Prix earlier this month, which resulted in the championship leader crashing out.
Before this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Verstappen was brought to the hospital as seven-time champion Hamilton closed the gap to eight points in the standings.
“In terms of the move, I’d do it again exactly as I’ve done it in the past,” he said.
“I think, growing up, wheel-to-wheel racing was always the best, from karting. The most exciting part of motor sport is when you see close racing.
“We’re now seeing two teams incredibly close on performance. And if there’s more people watching then that tells you all you need to know,” he added.
Verstappen, 23, had previously stated that despite clearing the air with Hamilton during a phone call following their spectacular crash, he was still dissatisfied with him.
The Red Bull driver refused to go into detail, instead expressing his displeasure with the defending champion’s post-race celebrations.
“One guy is in hospital, the other guy is waving the flag around like nothing has happened while you pushed the guy into the wall with 51Gs,” he said.
“And not only that, just the whole reaction of the team. That’s not how you celebrate a win. Especially a win — how they got it.
“That’s what I found really disrespectful. In a way, it shows how they really are. It comes out after a pressure situation. I wouldn’t want to be seen like that.”
‘Emotions run high’
After the triumph, Mercedes’ Hamilton defended his reaction.
“I don’t believe our behaviour was disrespectful. It’s one thing knowing and then celebrating what happened and there’s one thing not knowing and celebrating. Obviously I wasn’t aware,” Hamilton said.
“It was my home Grand Prix and we worked incredibly hard for who knows how long to get a result like that.
“Emotions were running high. It wasn’t an intentional celebration it was just the joy of seeing so many people and so many people celebrating, being together and that’s the natural emotion. I’m not going to hide my emotions. It was an amazing feeling,” he added.
Verstappen distanced himself from claims made by his team boss Christian Horner who accused seven-time champion Hamilton of “dirty driving”.
“That’s the first time I heard it like that. No, I think he just misjudged the moment in that corner.”
Hamilton, 36, was given a ten-second penalty for his role in the accident, which Verstappen felt was too lenient.
“I don’t think the penalty was correct because basically you take out your main rival and, especially with the speed we have in our cars, we are miles ahead of, let’s say, the third-best team.
“We are easily 40, 50 seconds ahead in normal conditions. So, a 10 second penalty doesn’t do anything so definitely that penalty should have been more severe.”
The Dutchman leads Hamilton by a small margin heading into the 11th race of the season on Sunday, which might be triggered by Red Bull’s attempt to persuade a stewards’ hearing later on Thursday that the punishment was inadequately severe.
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