Verstappen baffled by Hamilton's behavior in FP2 at COTA

Max Verstappen says he doesn’t understand what happened when Lewis Hamilton overtook him in FP2 at the United States Grand Prix, after the Red Bull driver flipped the bird at his rival.

Hamilton tried to overtake Verstappen down the inside into the final corner,  the two going side-by-side through the exit and along the pit straight. After they came close to contact on the straight, Hamilton had the inside line and Verstappen had to yield at Turn 1, giving his title rival the middle finger and calling him a “stupid idiot” on team radio.

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“Yeah I don’t know (why Hamilton passed),” Verstappen said. “We are all lining up to go for our laps, so I don’t really understand what happened there.”

Although Verstappen ended up in eighth place in FP2, the championship leader says his pace is better than that result suggests because he had issues with traffic throughout the afternoon.

“On the soft tire, didn’t get the lap in," he said. "Overall it’s not easy out there. The track is quite bumpy, and also to find the right compromise with the car hasn’t been the easiest so far. There are a few positive things to look at and we will continue to work on it it also overnight.

“Yeah (the long run was good), and it didn’t particularly feel bad in the short run, it was just a mess with the traffic.”