Martin Brundle believes Lewis Hamilton demonstrated that he is no longer willing to yield to Max Verstappen following their collision at the Italian Grand Prix. The two championship contenders had another coming together at Monza last weekend, their second high-profile incident after their high-speed clash at the opening lap of the British Grand Prix. Brundle believes that while Hamilton may have shown a willingness to yield in the past, the incident at Silverstone made it clear that the Mercedes driver is no longer willing to cede to his Red Bull rival. "Max went around the outside of Lewis in Turn 1, a bona fide move made with his car totally under control," Brundle wrote in his column for Sky Sports. "It was not a wild manoeuvre with tyres locked up or suchlike. He would have appeared in Lewis' vision extremely quickly, and you can hear your rival, too, in such close quarters. "The call that Max should have taken to the escape road as a matter of course doesn't stack up, because then the 'move' is over as you must to yield position. They both knew he had to complete the chicane on track. "If this is the expected default course of action, why is the escape road full of nasty and potentially car-damaging 'sausage kerbs', and why are drivers regularly penalised for using them here and at the second chicane? "Lewis turned in expecting Max to take to the run-off, as indeed had happened the other way around earlier in the race and back in Imola, for example. Max hoped there would be enough space, but Lewis gave up yielding back at Silverstone on race day." Brundle stated that while Verstappen may have been over-ambitious in trying to make his way past Hamilton on Lap 26, he still views the collision as a racing incident. "Maybe it was an over-ambitious move, but it had to be made," Brundle added. "Max was fully committed, perhaps he should have braked or backed out of the throttle, but I doubt there was time, and he wanted the pass. "At the end of the day, their rear tyres connected, which is quite telling. Maybe Lewis should have yielded and given more space in that split second; he was a long way into the middle of the track towards Turn 2, but why should he? "That's why in live commentary I called it a racing incident and I stand by that. "The stewards have given Max a three-place grid drop for Sochi, and given their copious amounts of car and track data, varied camera angles, and interviewing both drivers, they duly considered it more Max's fault than Lewis'."
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