OMNISPORT

Lewis Hamilton said Max Verstappen's aggressive attitude led to his collision with Esteban Ocon at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Verstappen had impressed in the first half of Sunday's race at Interlagos and after swapping supersoft tires for a set of softs, he was able to get past pole-sitter Hamilton. His time at the front of the race did not last long, though, as Ocon made contact with him at the start of lap 44, the pair coming together at the second corner.

Verstappen had looked to be past backmarker Ocon but the Frenchman found pace coming out of the corner and looked to move back ahead and unlap himself.

His decision led to the pair spinning off the track and saw an ugly confrontation after the race as Verstappen pushed his rival – which saw him ordered to do two days of public service by the FIA.

Speaking at the post-race media conference, Hamilton admitted he was not surprised to see Verstappen in trouble given his approach to racing.

"I saw it happen and I wasn't surprised by it or anything like that," he said. "I saw them racing but they weren't racing for the same position. In my mind, I would have been in a different frame of mind.

"Fortunately, he was able to keep going, no-one got hurt, and they kept going, it's a racing incident I guess. Max is that go-getter guy and every now and then it bites you."

Hamilton profited from that incident to go on and win his 10th race of 2018, which in turn helped secure a fifth constructors' championship in a row for Mercedes.

"We've just won the world championship for the fifth time so that's real history in the making for the team," he added. "These guys [the Mercedes team] have worked so hard the last six years and it's been an incredible journey for them. This is what everyone works for the whole year. Everyone wakes up and goes to work every day and tries to bring the best out of themselves and they really pull together as a unit. 

"I've always told you how much of an honor it is to drive for them, and this was the best style we could do it, because we were struggling. We had problems with the engine. 

"I'm just so proud of everyone. To come in and see my guys who I've come along this great journey with and we've had a lot of success but we've still remained fierce and competitive and I think our relationship is better than it's ever been so just that bond, it was just a great, great moment, plus it was a really hard race."