F1 News: Toto Wolff - Max Verstappen "Made Sure Hamilton's Lap Was Ruined"

Max Verstappen took "revenge" according to the Mercedes chief.

The intense rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen took a new turn during the Austria sprint race qualifying session. While Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff acknowledges his team's mistake in their communication with Hamilton, he accuses Verstappen of deliberately seeking revenge and blocking him during the sprint shootout of the Austrian GP to make sure his lap was ruined. This clash of titans adds another layer of drama to an already heated season.

In a nail-biting sprint race qualifying session in Austria, the fortunes of Hamilton and Verstappen couldn't have been more contrasting. Verstappen secured a comfortable pole position, his second of the race weekend at the Red Bull Ring. On the other hand, Hamilton's journey ended prematurely in the SQ1 session, with Verstappen playing a significant role in his elimination.

Hamilton had one last chance to advance to the next stage of the sprint shootout but was warned by Mercedes over the radio that Verstappen would be closing in rapidly during his preparation lap. As predicted, Verstappen approached Hamilton's Mercedes at Turn 10, expressing his frustration that Hamilton had obstructed his path through the final turn.

Verstappen shared his disappointment with reporters after the race, stating: 

"He blocked me into the last corner, so I had to brake more, and I lost like three-tenths. So that wasn't ideal, and I think not correct.

“There was still a few seconds left on the clock so I didn’t know if my lap time was going to be safe and I wanted to continue.

“But ran out of time, space, with the two cars like that, which was a bit of a shame.”

In what seemed like a retaliatory move, Verstappen swiftly overtook Hamilton at Turn 1, effectively thwarting Hamilton's opportunity to set a faster time. 

“The mistake happened on our side,” he told 

Sky F1

. “The communication between us and Lewis didn’t give him the right information to get out of Max’s way.

“I think no one wants to be in anybody’s way because if you impede, you’re getting penalised, so that was not the aim.

“On the other side, Turn 1 was a revenge foul [by Verstappen]. It was just to make sure that his [Hamilton’s] lap was ruined.

“So one was not intentional, the other one was intentional – but who cares? At the end, we looked at whether it was going to change our race or not…

“But I think they’re going to talk about it at the drivers’ briefing next week.”

It was a difficult weekend for the 7-time champion who struggled during the sprint to bring home a P10 finish, and now, in Sunday's Grand Prix, he's running in P7 at the time of writing after a 5-second time penalty. Obviously annoyed with the pace of the W14 and the track limit decisions this week, he'll be happy to move on to the British Grand Prix this time next week.