Max Verstappen accuses Lewis Hamilton of breaking rules at Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton finished behind Max Verstappen at the Australian Grand Prix but the champion wasn’t happy with his rival’s tactics.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Max Verstappen was over the moon at a maiden grand prix win in Australia, but claimed Lewis Hamilton failed to follow racing rules when passing him on the opening lap.

The Dutch Red Bull star took the chequered flag after a drama-filled showdown ahead of Mercedes’ Hamilton for his second win of the year and first in Melbourne.

He started from pole but was passed by both George Russell and Hamilton as they jostled for position at the start.

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Over the team radio Verstappen fumed: “He (Hamilton) pushed me off the track. I was ahead at the apex, he pushed me off.”

His superior Red Bull power eventually brought him home, but he had a dig at Hamilton nevertheless, complaining that the British seven-time world champion pushed him wide.

“From my side, I just tried to avoid the contact, it’s quite clear on the rules what is allowed to do now on the outside, but clearly, it’s not followed,” Verstappen said after the race.

“But that’s OK. We had good pace, we passed (Hamilton) anyway but it’s something for the next race to take into account.”

This photo perfectly sums up the Hamilton-Verstappen rivalry. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

A revived Hamilton, who finished second for his best result of the year, denied he was in the wrong.

“I thought it was pretty decent. He braked early and I braked late. I was fully up to his side and I think we both left space for each other,” he said.

“I didn’t run him off the road, he didn’t turn in on me. We didn’t touch and that’s racing.” Despite the early close call, Verstappen was able to regain the lead and once he did never looked threatened, despite the race being red flagged three times, including with two laps to go.

“Of course, I was very happy to get the win but I think the race towards the end was a bit of a mess with all the calls,” he said of the red flag issues.

“I just didn’t understand why we needed a red flag. It left a lot of drivers confused. If we would have had a safety car and then a normal rolling start we wouldn’t have had all these shunts and then you have a normal finish. So they created the problems themselves.

“We’ll talk about it, I think it left a lot of drivers confused about why we needed a red flag. We’ll talk in Baku.”

Hamilton, Verstappen and Fernando Alonso celebrate on the podium at the Australian Grand Prix. (Photo by Paul Crock/AFP)

Verstappen’s straight line speed was again clearly better than his rivals in Melbourne.

But improvements from Hamilton’s Mercedes and the ever-present threat from third-place Fernando Alonso gave them reason to hope he can be caught.

The Dutchman said it was too early to tell if they were closing the gap.

“I think it was the nature of the track a bit, that all made it all a bit closer,” he said.

“I think also the warm-up was quite tricky, some teams nailed it better than others, so difficult to say. I think we need to go to a few more tracks to have a full understanding.”