Victory gifted away? Red Bull makes Verstappen give back position

Max Verstappen finished in second place at the "Madring" premiere.

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However, the initial phase provided plenty of talking points: In Turn one, the Dutchman and rival Lewis Hamilton got in each other's way.

The Brit had to move slightly onto the kerb, Verstappen tried to go around the outside, but then had to cut the corner.

The Red Bull driver stayed ahead and even inherited second place after Andrea Kimi Antonelli had to drop back behind the 28-year-old himself.

In lap four, however, Verstappen received the instruction from his race director to cede the position back to Hamilton. As a result, the Dutchman also had to let the championship leader pass.

Verstappen: "Would have received a penalty"

However, as the Ferrari driver was struggling with brake problems and even retired shortly thereafter, his competitor lost a lot of time. Shortly after, the stewards announced that the situation would not be investigated further.

So, did Red Bull throw away a victory? Verstappen denied this in an ORF interview: If he had stayed ahead of Hamilton, he "would have received a penalty."

Nevertheless, a slight displeasure towards his team could be heard in his words: "If they say I should do that, then I'll do it."

In the end, however, it might have been a blessing in disguise. If Verstappen had not given the position back, a pit stop for him, just like for Lando Norris under VSC, might not have worked out.

However, Verstappen is satisfied with the result: Of course, he "had a bit of luck with Lando," who was unlucky with the VSC. Second place was then "more than the" maximum.

Hamilton on Turn One Incident: "It was Racing"

The Ferrari driver saw the situation at the start of the race more clearly: "It was racing, I was ahead and he overtook me on the outside."

For the Brit, it was an unlucky afternoon anyway. Despite a good start and briefly holding third place, brake problems thwarted the 40-year-old's efforts.

"Already in Turn five, I noticed that something was wrong with the brakes," Hamilton said in an interview after the race.

This also ended a proud streak for the Scuderia driver: Until the race in Madrid, the third-placed driver in the championship had not only finished every race but had also always scored points. With the retirement, Hamilton is now already 20 points behind George Russell - Lando Norris, however, is only five points back.