News : Hamilton on Verstappen incident: “Certainly no intention”

Lewis Hamilton experienced a moment of fright on Friday in France in Turn 3. The Brit lost control of his Mercedes in the second free practice but was able to catch a crossbreed and prevent worse. He got in the way Max Verstappen, in which he apologized. The World Champion shows in retrospect even surprised.

"That was serious!", He begins with the analysis of the incident. "I was surprised that I could catch that, if I had not done that I would have ended up in the wall." Specifically, broke the rear end of his Mercedes in curve quite late.

The World Champion tried everything to prevent an accident with a balancing game on brake and gas and with countersteering. He drove a bollard over. "I got the car under control while drifting."

Finally, in the evening, he was impressed with his vehicle control: "That was pretty cool, I'm pretty happy with the Save." The Briton sounds at that moment almost like MotoGP ace Marc Marquez, who also likes to show spectacular saves in free practice.

Hamilton was finally able to bring the W10 back under control. As he slowly wanted to return to the track, but Red Bull driver Max Verstappen came flying on a fast lap. "Then I just wanted to get back on track, away from the ideal line."

"Of course, then you automatically come back to the ideal line, I looked in the mirror, but you see nothing except the white line, I just tried to drive slowly and not in the way."

Then suddenly he saw Verstappen. "Luckily I was not close to him, I did not stop him from cornering, so he just had oversteer at the exit." Because even the 21-year-old finally came off the ideal line after turn 4 and had to break off his lap.

The incident was initially investigated by FIA commissioners, but no penalty was imposed. Verstappen had experienced no lasting disadvantage by Hamilton's behavior, the Briton had also seen little in the rearview mirror, so the reasoning.

"That's the training, it can happen sometimes, it certainly was not on purpose," he says. Shortly after the situation, he also raised his hand and apologized to the Red Bull driver, who complained afterwards about the scene.

This article was written by Maria Reyer