Max Verstappen Explains Contentious Lewis Hamilton Clash at the Start of the Spanish Grand Prix

• Max Verstappen defended his opening lap move on Lewis Hamilton after finishing on the Spanish Grand Prix podium in second place.
• Verstappen said cutting Turn 1 to hold off Hamilton was down to “the nature of the track,” and that staying on the circuit risked a collision, before Red Bull told him to hand the position back.
• The four time champion called his finish “a great result” and said he had matched the pace of both race winner Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris’ McLaren for most of the afternoon.

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A Contentious Move at Turn One

Max Verstappen finished the Spanish Grand Prix on the podium for the sixth time this season, capping a European swing of races in which Red Bull has settled into a role of chasing rather than leading. The moment that defined his afternoon at the Madring came before the first corner had even been fully negotiated. Lewis Hamilton got ahead of him as the lights went out, only for Verstappen to cut across the chicane and hold onto third place rather than concede it back straight away.

Hamilton called for the position to be returned. Verstappen resisted the idea at first, reluctant to give up a spot he felt he had earned fairly, before Red Bull instructed him to hand it back to avoid the risk of a penalty. He complied, dropped to third, and only rejoined the podium places once Hamilton’s Ferrari began to struggle with a braking problem a handful of laps later.

The opening lap had already produced chaos even before Verstappen and Hamilton came together. Antonelli attacked Norris at the start and briefly took the lead by cutting the first chicane under braking, before handing the position straight back. He tried again around the outside at the next chicane, bailed out across the run off a second time, and let Norris back through, only for Verstappen to slip past him in the process and move up to second.

‘The Nature of the Track’

Asked to explain the clash afterward, Verstappen pointed to the layout of the Madring itself rather than any deliberate act of aggression. “It’s just a bit the nature of the track,” he said. “When you have that track layout with so much tarmac, people of course risk [going] for a move, and I saw what happened, Lewis clipped the kerb so he was going to run wide.”

He argued that staying on the circuit rather than moving aside would have made contact more likely, not less. “I think if I would’ve stayed on the track, you touch and there’s a big risk of damage. I decided to drive next to the track, and then of course the team told me to give the position back, which I did. After that, I just tried to do my race.”

Handing It Back and Getting On With the Race

Once he had given both Antonelli and Hamilton their positions back, Verstappen’s race settled into a steady defence of third against a fast recovering Norris, at least until fortune swung back in his favor. A Virtual Safety Car for Lance Stroll’s stopped Aston Martin let Verstappen pit at limited cost, the exact opportunity that timing denied Norris a few seconds later up the road.

The swing promoted Verstappen to second by the time the race resumed at full speed, a position he held onto for the rest of the afternoon even as Norris closed back in on him through the final laps after his own delayed stop.

A Podium Verstappen Can Be Proud Of

Verstappen was open about the fact he did not have the outright pace to trouble Antonelli or Norris on a car by car basis. “Looking at the race pace, I think it’s a great result,” he said. “Of course, we know that Lando got unlucky with that VSC, so for us I think P2 is an incredible result because you could see how much Lando was catching me.”

He was equally direct about where Red Bull stood against the two fastest cars on the day. “I think it was quite clear that Lando and Kimi were a lot faster. Once everyone was a little bit clear, it was again the same thing where Kimi was a bit faster than me, Lando was faster than all of us, but I could keep him quite easily behind me.”

Antonelli’s own view of the win reflected the same theme running through Verstappen’s assessment, that pace alone had not decided the podium order at the Madring. “I think today it’s good to win but it doesn’t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved the win but overall, we take it,” Antonelli said, an admission that placed Verstappen’s second place in an interesting light. Red Bull had beaten a McLaren that had spent most of the afternoon looking like the fastest car in the field, and did so largely through track position rather than raw speed.

Verstappen’s season had already been shaped by his decision to commit his future to Red Bull through 2030 after weeks of speculation linking him to both McLaren and Mercedes. A podium finish arrived at through a difficult Turn 1 clash and a well timed pit stop, rather than outright pace, fit the pattern of a driver making the most of a car that is no longer the fastest in the field on a given Sunday.

It made for a podium built on defence and timing rather than raw speed. “A podium is a nice way to end the European swing,” Verstappen said, closing out the run of European rounds with a result he rated highly even without matching the pace of the two cars ahead of him.

A Season Now About Points, Not the Title

The result kept Red Bull firmly involved in the fight for the Constructors’ Championship even as Antonelli’s lead in the Drivers’ standings has grown to a level that leaves the title fight to Mercedes and McLaren. Verstappen has settled into a role built around consistent points rather than race wins in 2026, a shift he has largely made peace with after agreeing to stay at Red Bull through 2030 rather than pursue a move elsewhere.

That contract decision followed weeks of speculation over whether he might switch to McLaren or Mercedes, speculation Verstappen himself confirmed had involved genuine conversations before he chose to stay put. A second placed finish gained largely through track position rather than outright pace is the kind of result that decision now demands, and one Verstappen appeared satisfied to bank as Formula 1 leaves Europe behind for the season’s closing rounds.

He now turns his attention to Baku and the triple header that opens the next phase of the calendar on September 24, the first of nine remaining rounds in which a title challenge from Red Bull no longer looks realistic but a fight for second in the constructors’ standings very much does.

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More F1 Reading

• George Russell Admits He Is ‘Not in the Fight’ for the F1 Title After Kimi Antonelli’s Madrid Win
• Lewis Hamilton Says Ferrari ‘Had the Car to Fight for a Win’ Before Brake Failure Ended His Spanish Grand Prix
• Lando Norris Calls F1’s Virtual Safety Car Rules ‘Unfair’ After Losing the Spanish Grand Prix to Kimi Antonelli
• Kimi Antonelli Wins First Race At The Madring

Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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