Lewis Hamilton said is it "natural" that he is a "target" for Max Verstappen as he reacted to their clash during the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The pair reignited their 2021 title rivalry briefly during the race in Sao Paulo. Hamilton was ahead of the Dutchman after a safety car restart early in the race, but left a small gap on the inside of a right-hander as he made his way through the Senna Esses.
Verstappen tried to take advantage, but the move resulted in them making contact. Fortunately, neither of them were forced to retire, but the Red Bull driver took damage to his front wing and was forced to pit for a replacement, and was also handed a five-second penalty for his part.
Hamilton seemed to avoid any major damage and went on to finish second behind team-mate George Russell in a dream result for Mercedes. Referring to the Verstappen incident in his interview after the race, the Brit quipped: "What can I say? You know how it is with Max."
He expanded further in the post-race press conference, telling journalists: "I am not concerned. I think it's natural when you have success and the numbers on your chest that you become a bit of a target but it's okay. It isn't anything I haven't dealt with before.
"I don't really have much of an opinion about [the collision], to be honest. All I thought in that moment was that I thought the car would have to retire because I felt something, the rear wasn't feeling the same after that. For me, it was like, I was going to lose the team the 1-2 – that's all I could think of.
"So I was driving over across the grass, back onto the track and all I could think of was how can I get back to giving the team that incredible result. So just for me, it's kind of, again, not how you fall, it's how you get back up. And I'm proud of the job we've all done."
Meanwhile, Verstappen made it clear he had no regrets about attempting the move – even admitting he had a pretty good idea that he was not going to be able to overtake without making contact. "To be honest, I went around the outside, and I immediately felt he was not going to leave space," he told Sky Sports.
"I just went for it, he didn't leave me space, so I knew we were going to get together. It cost him the race win, for me it gave me five seconds. It wouldn't have mattered anything for my race, because we were just way too slow. But it's just a shame, I thought we could race quite well together, but clearly the intention was not there to race."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was keen not to dwell on the incident, and clearly felt celebrating his team's success was more important to him. "I struggle to comment on the situation because it's irrelevant to me at that stage to attribute guilt or to have a judgement call here," said the Austrian. "I'd rather be happy about the win."
