Hamilton hopes to avoid hit-man Verstappen in Texas showdown

Lewis Hamilton hopes to steer clear of Max Verstappen at next weekend's United States Grand Prix in Texas, where he aims to clinch his sixth drivers' world championship.

Like Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel who said he also concedes extra space to the Dutchman, Hamilton believes that when racing against the Red Bull driver there is a higher possibility of contact and an accident.

In the wake of his perfectly-executed strategic triumph for Mercedes in Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix, in which he made contact with Verstappen on the opening lap, Hamilton said he believed there was a higher risk of an accident while racing against him than others.

"Every driver is slightly different," said Hamilton, answering a question in the post-race news conference.

"Some are smarter and some are very smart aggressive. Some are silly with it..."
"Most of the time you do. In my experience (in Sunday's race), I didn't have extra space to give him, but I don't think it was intentional. Nonetheless, I managed to keep the car in a straight line... "
Verstappen was chasing a hat-trick of Mexico victories, but undid his chances on Saturday in qualifying when he was punished for ignoring yellow flags following Valtteri Bottas' crash and then told a news conference that "it doesn't matter."
- Wide berth -
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