Max Verstappen has called Lewis Hamilton "disrespectful" following their clash on the opening lap of today's British Grand Prix.

The Dutchman wasn't referring to the incident itself, rather the Briton's post-race celebrations.

"Glad I'm OK," the Dutch youngster posted on social media. "Very disappointed with being taken out like this.

"The penalty given does not help us and doesn't do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track," he added.

"Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behaviour, but we move on."

Following the incident, as the safety car was deployed, Hamilton asked his team if Verstappen was OK.

However, speaking at race end, the seven-time world champion, though concerned that his rival had been hospitalised, Hamilton insisted that there was no need for him to apologise.

"I don't think I'm in the position to have to apologise for anything," he told reporters, "we're out there racing.

"I heard Max is in hospital and that definitely concerns me," he aded. "None of us ever want any of us to ever get injured, that's never my intention, so I really hope he's OK. I'll hit him up after this just to check he's okay, and we live to fight another day.

"There'll be a lot of tough races coming up and we have to learn to strike a decent balance," he admitted.

Referring to the 10s penalty for failing to avoid contact, he said: "I don't agree with the stewards but I take my penalty on the chin and get on with my job. I'm not going to whine about it.

"Everyone's going to have a different opinion," he added, "I don't really care what people think. I do what I do and am really grateful for today."

Told that Christian Horner had described today's win as a "hollow" victory, the Briton said: "It doesn't feel hollow. There's 2000 people that work incredibly hard in my team, it's not just about me naturally, of course this is not the way I want anything to happen in the race.

"I think it's important for all of us to take a step back. I'm sure emotions are running high there, I know what it is like to lose points within a team and be in that position so I don't feel any way about it."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by F1 Yank, 19/07/2021 15:12

"Yeah, I'll have to ring in here. This was HAM's fault 100%. VER had the right to defend and close the door, ham had room to avoid and should have. HAM could not stay close to VER for the reasons Yakker quoted. The case here is how this will affect VER and the coming races. He might have suffered a concussion as well as bruising from the impact. What if he had been seriously injured? Pretty disrespectful and VER has that comment spot on. What if this happened to HAM? What would the reaction be? The 10 second penalty was not enough, since HAM was able to make up the deficit, probably should have been a 10 stop and go or perhaps at this time a 15 point deduction. Just my .02"

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2. Posted by Italian Job, 19/07/2021 8:23

"Message to Max, Horner and Dr Marko:
Get real, it was a racing incident. Look at some of the "racing incidents" involving a certain German champion - which had been far nastier.
Red Bull's reaction to this episode reminds me of "Red Bull won the race" on a good day and "Renault let us down" on a bad day!
FWIW Hamilton is good, but Russel showed us last year that he is not that good."

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3. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 19/07/2021 2:50

"Referring to the 10s penalty for failing to avoid contact, he said: "I don't agree with the stewards but I take my penalty on the chin and get on with my job. I'm not going to whine about it.

Given that Russell got a 3 place penalty, admittedly he did hit a Ferrari, I am not surprised Lewis is taking his penalty on the chin as he got off very lightly."

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4. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 19/07/2021 2:46

"This has got essence of Senna v Prost and Schumacher v Hill et al, uncompromising.

I look forward to the next race and we can whose chariot has had swords fitted to the wheels Boudica style.

"

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5. Posted by kenji, 19/07/2021 2:28

"Whilst I have no love for either team or their respective drivers, in this instance Hamilton was totally at fault and the visual evidence completely supports that opinion. Mercedes/Hamilton are desperate and for them to put up such an unsupported defence shows just how far they are prepared to go. Horner is quite correct...a hollow victory aided and abetted by a compliant Bottas too eager to please in the vain hope for contract extension! The stewards decision was correct but the penalty was not. Hamilton should've received a far harsher penalty, IMO. Verstappen was a very lucky person to have survived such a dramatic impact..he could've suffered life threatening injuries but thankfully the chassis integrity saved him. To see Wolff/Hamilton dancing around was quite unbecoming and out of order. "

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6. Posted by 12sparkplugs, 19/07/2021 1:31

"Hamilton is desperate, he knows he is beaten this year, like Senna and Schumacher, force the oponent out.
But, what goes around comes around."

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7. Posted by gt3bill, 18/07/2021 23:15

"listening to horner whine and cry made my day!!..lololol . Great race. the kid thinks he can weave and bob all over the place and its all good. Today the kid looks just like what he really is .. inexperienced!.. Weaving and bobbing, probably learned from his old man ...remember baku doing it to his own team mate!he has been cutting people off since the beginning of his career. He is sloppy and dangerous and horner knows it and he endorses it. I remember incident in baku when Adrian Newey took his papers off of pit wall desk and left in disgust....Did not even want to talk to him, . Red Bull is the team that causes this behavior in motorsports...as long as it does no affect them....disgusting in my opinion! Remember when they were crying for an engine and being babys ....."helmet saying ..if we dont get an engine we are leaving F1...more crying from them...... Red Bull Sucks. and so does Jensen Button the one hit wonder... sitting on both sides of the fence...another english twit! Just keep talking into that telefunken u47 JENSEN..FANTASTIC RACE LEWIS..... do not let them push you around "

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8. Posted by Sam 66, 18/07/2021 20:57

"No one seems to have noticed that Max kept the lead after the first corner by exceeding track limits. The collision was a racing incident with neither wanting to give ground"

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9. Posted by USA1, 18/07/2021 20:27

"It definitely was Lewis who should have backed off or gave some space and it would have been hard racing but not running into someone, you clearly could see Max turning his steering wheel to the left already ones to avoid this from happening, if it would have been the other way around Max would have been disqualified from the race, just look at past races where he was taken away the podium for similar incidents!"

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10. Posted by yakker, 18/07/2021 19:52

"Hamilton needed to get by before Max disappeared, he had already said the RedBull was too fast in the corners. The Mercedes with low down force could not match the Redbull, but Hamilton went in too fast for the Mercedes and understeered and made no effort to get out of it. For front wheel to hit rear wheel, Max had to be ahead. Not saying it was deliberate (at least I hope not) but it was a mistake from Hamilton. I would have more respect for him if he held his hands up. But the punishment did not fit the crime, a 10 second stop/go would have been better, or relegated to the back for the restart. "

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11. Posted by Grumpy Grandad, 18/07/2021 19:43

"Hamilton took his opponent out. If that's the way it is the gloves are off."

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12. Posted by GreenFlag, 18/07/2021 19:40

"Max is still too aggressive. Had he backed off slightly he would still have a had a chance of winning the race. Instead he put himself in hospital."

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13. Posted by KKK, 18/07/2021 19:37

"with tosh! Max would have done the same to anyone. It's called racing, get over it!"

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