Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton lashed out at title rival Max Verstappen after Sunday’s gripping Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, describing the Dutchman as “over the limit.”
Mercedes driver Hamilton won a dramatic race under lights on the Jeddah street circuit, but only after several close run-ins with Red Bull’s Verstappen.
“I really had to try and keep my cool out there, which was really difficult to do,” Hamilton said.
“I have raced a lot of drivers in my 28 years of racing — I have come across a lot of characters. There’s a few that are over the limit, the rules don’t apply. He’s [Verstappen] over the limit for sure — I have avoided collisions on so many occasions with the guy,” he added.
“I don’t mind being the one who does that because you get to live another day. It doesn’t matter for him if we don’t finish. It does for me,” Hamilton said.
The tense battle culminated in a late collision when Hamilton, apparently unaware that Verstappen had been ordered to give up the lead after an illegal maneuvre shortly before, hit the Red Bull as it braked in front of him.
Red Bull maintained that Verstappen was simply following instructions, while Mercedes intimated that the Dutchman was “brake-testing.”
“I don’t understand why he hit the brakes quite so heavily, so I ran into the back of him,” Hamilton said. “I didn’t get the information. It was very confusing.”
However, a visibly annoyed Verstappen denied any wrongdoing in the incident.
“I slowed down. I wanted to let him by. I was on the right, but he didn’t want to overtake and we touched,” Verstappen said. “I don’t really understand what happened there.”
Race stewards, who gave Verstappen a five-second penalty for an earlier incident, were investigating the decision.
“It was quite eventful. A lot of things happened, which I don’t fully agree with, but it is what it is,” the 24-year-old Dutchman said.
He later stormed off the podium, refusing to take part in the traditional end-of-race champagne spraying with Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who took third.
Hamilton and Verstappen are now level on points as they head to the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next weekend, although Verstappen has the advantage of having won more races.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but