Formula One fans have claimed a private post-race interaction, or lack of, between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen was “awkward”. Hamilton sat and watched highlights of the race in F1’s cooldown room as Verstappen spoke to team-mate Sergio Perez.
Hamilton and Verstappen didn’t speak, with the Mercedes driver not even looking at the two Red Bull men. The incident was analysed on social media as many highlighted the lack of conversation between the drivers.
Twitter user @carolineF1 posted: “This cooldown room was kinda awkward.” @0ldyellowbr1cks added: “That cooldown room was so awkward my goodness.”
@scuba13 said: “Poor @LewisHamilton glued to the TV on the cool down room to avoid pointless cringe convo with golden boots.”
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Other social media users also suggested Hamilton and Verstappen’s relationship was still fractured after last year’s title battle.
@TheBrigitteEdit commented: “Hamilton and Verstappen still not talking with each other if they don’t have to. The cool down room shows that. Doubt they will ever repair their relationship in this lifetime.”
@kunalashah remarked: “Cool down room – can we just leave Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in there and see what happens OR how long the silence would last?” @mpho_nox added: “It kills me how Lewis and Max hate each other. Like there’s not an inch of love between them. They were silent in the cool down room until Perez broke the tension lol.”
Hamilton appeared to have the pace to challenge Verstappen early on as the two teams went on different strategies. The seven-time champion was aground 1.5s behind the Dutchman before the first set of stops.
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However, the Mercedes star dropped off in the second stint after Mercedes opted for a set of hard compound tyres. Hamilton took to team radio to moan about the team’s decision as he fell over 10 seconds behind his ex-title rival.
Hamilton questioned the team’s tyre strategy after the race but still praised Verstappen on his record-breaking win. He explained: “I was so close in that first stint but I think the Red Bull was clearly too fast today and ultimately, maybe they had the better tyre strategy.
“I’m not sure (the hard) was the right tyre at the end. I thought we should have started on the soft but obviously we had the opposite tyre. It was okay in the first stint but that hard tyre was just an offset. Congratulations to Max, it’s great to be up here and separate the two.”