OMNISPORT

Max Verstappen played down Lewis Hamilton's "d******d" jibe after their Bahrain Grand Prix collision, saying "those things can happen".

Hamilton made his feelings known when he watched the highlights of Sunday's race in the cool-down room at the Sakhir circuit on Sunday. Verstappen retired from the race due to damage done to his car while passing Hamilton on the inside at Turn 1 on the second lap, the world champion later accusing him of showing a lack of respect.

The Red Bull driver shrugged off Hamilton's post-race insult when he was shown the footage on Dutch television show Peptalk on Ziggo Sport.

Verstappen said: "He is just out of the car there. Then those things can happen. If you are just out of the car, you are still full of adrenaline, so yeah."

The 20-year-old reiterated that he did not believe he did anything wrong in the incident which brought his race to a premature end.

"I was really close behind and there was a chance to overtake, so I thought it was a good opportunity. Our car was great. Then I'm not going to stay behind him." he added. "I knew we had a very good car for the race, so I knew we would be able to fight them."