23 July 2023 , 17:42
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Lewis Hamilton accused rival Max Verstappen of pushing him wide at the first corner – but conceded he never had a chance of fighting for Hungarian Grand Prix victory.
The Mercedes man put in a stellar qualifying lap to make the front grid slot his own. But he lost the lead of the race almost immediately after a poor launch off the line.
By the exit of the first corner he had already dropped to fourth. He battled with but lost out to fellow Brit Lando Norris in that turn, while Oscar Piastri took advantage to slip by them both.
But Hamilton felt he was a little hard done by in those opening few seconds. "The start, actually, the initial getaway wasn't the worst I've ever had, but it obviously wasn't as good as Max's," the seven-time world champion said after the race.
"I had a bit of wheelspin and then obviously Max was on the inside and he ran me wide and I got done by the two McLarens. So, definitely not a great start, kind of reminiscent of 2015 when I fell back from first."
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Verstappen never looked back after taking the lead and held it for the rest of the Grand Prix. When he took the chequered flag at the end, he was more than half-a-minute clear of second-placed Norris.
And Hamilton conceded that, irrespective of that start, the pace of the RB19 was just too strong to compete with. He added: "After that, just didn't have the pace to keep up with the guys. The balance in the car was pretty awful on that first stint, a lot of understeer and oversteer through corner balance and I just couldn't keep up with them.
Max Verstappen never looked back after beating Hamilton off the line (Getty Images)"So then, bit by bit, as we got through the next couple of stints, the car started to become more drivable, and then the last stint obviously was much better. If we had had the pace we had at the end, we would have been a little bit better I think through the day."
After a weekend which delivered plenty of joy only to eventually disappoint, Hamilton made a point of ending his interview on a high note. He concluded: "I'm going to take the positives from [Saturday], amazing effort from the team to get to where we were and to beat everybody in qualifying was really spectacular for us and obviously shows that, whilst we don't have the best car, it was an incredible lap.
"We have a lot of work to do. We're a long way away off beating the Red Bull in a race. And obviously now we're behind the McLarens, but we still keep pushing."