At the hottest moment, Hamilton (Mercedes) enraged Verstappen (Red Bull), the leader in the drivers’ classification, by overtaking him on the inside as the Dutchman entered the last corner of the Circuit of the Americas in Austin (Texas).
The seven-time world champion British Mercedes’ Mercedes caused Verstappen to leave the track and made it difficult for him to return for the final stretch, in which they rolled paired with their cars inches apart.
The Dutchman, who leads Hamilton by six points in the overall standings, protested the action on the team radio and called him a “stupid idiot” by showing him his middle finger.
The Dutchman never seemed to regain his poise and finished eighth, 0.878s behind Sergio Pérez, his Red Bull teammate and owner of the best time of the day.
Within hours of the Austin race, the 17th of the 22 rounds of the season, the rivalry between the two drivers has intensified considerably after their clashes at the Italian Grand Prix in September and the British Grand Prix in July.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was later more conciliatory in statements to the press.
“Obviously they were lining up to start the lap and Lewis decided to get ahead of Max there,” Horner told UK Sky TV. “They have an unwritten rule in sessions like this that they take turns and Max was signaling that he was first in line.”
Verstappen, who is chasing his first Formula 1 championship at age 24, never found a space to make another attempt. “Why do we always go in traffic. Jesus,” he claimed in a later radio message.
The Dutchman was not the only upset driver in the session. Russian Nikita Mazepin was about to be hit by a driver coming out of the pits. “I just avoided an accident,” Mazepin warned. “It is impossible to take a turn on this track.”
After the session, without a helmet but wearing a mask, Verstappen expressed his bewilderment at an unusual incident in these training sessions.
“It was just a traffic jam,” he said before addressing the incident with Hamilton. “We are all lined up to do our laps, so I don’t really understand what happened there.”
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