"It really wasn't clear" - Hamilton protests innocence

Lewis Hamilton maintains that he was not to blame for the contact that marred an otherwise stunning Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Asked during the Post-race Press conference, Hamilton said: “It really wasn’t clear. There’s two scenarios: One that it wasn’t clear, two I didn’t get the information."

Hamilton appreciated Verstappen's tactics at the point at which Verstappen tried to allow Hamilton through, explaining: "it had become apparent that he was trying to let me past which is I guess what he had been asked to do, but before the DRS zone. That would have meant that he would have DRS’d back past me coming through the last corner and then DRS’d me into Turn One.”

He was quick to point out in no uncertain terms that he felt as though Verstappen's braking was unacceptable when the Dutchman appeared to be trying to allow Hamilton past head into Turn 27. “The worst part was just the steep heavy braking that happened at one point; that’s why we collided. That was the dangerous part.”