Max Verstappen has responded to Lewis Hamilton after the seven-time World Champion took a sly dig at the Dutch driver's involvement in their 2021 crash at Silverstone. Hamilton, who on Sunday shared a battle with Charles Leclerc through the very same corner as his crash with Verstappen, described Leclerc's driving as "sensible" and "a lot different" to what he experienced 12 months ago. The 37-year-old was deemed predominantly responsible for his crash with Verstappen, which resulted in his World Championship rival being airlifted to hospital. Hamilton overcame the resulting time penalty and won the race. Hamilton's comments suggest he still believes Verstappen is at least partly to blame for the incident, over one year on – but now Verstappen has issued a response. Speaking to Dutch media, including RacingNews365.com , ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen was told of Hamilton's comments and responded with a dig of his own.
Verstappen: Leclerc gave him less space that I did
The 24-year-old, who feels Hamilton's failure to take a tight enough line through the corner was the reason for the crash, joked: "I think it's great that, when you're 37 years old, at some point you understand how to get to an apex. "He does learn, so that's positive for the younger drivers: when you're 37 you still are always learning! "You can clearly see it in the images, of course. Charles gave him less space than I did last year, so that says enough. Moreover, he received a penalty last year, so you should not talk about that." Asked if it was smart for Hamilton to make such a dig, given the huge Dutch crowd that will travel to Austria this weekend, he continued: "He has to live with it himself. "I think it's a bit clumsy but, in the end, it has nothing to do with my performance. I have to focus on what we're doing here. I think we're doing quite well this year, so we'll keep working on that."
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