Max Verstappen took to team radio to call for Lewis Hamilton to be penalised for what was the first of his two incidents with Mercedes drivers on Lap 1 at Monza.
Verstappen lined up seventh for the Italian Grand Prix, behind Lewis Hamilton while George Russell in the other Mercedes was in third place on the grid.
Max Verstappen: Lewis didn’t leave a car’s width
Verstappen challenged Hamilton for position through the Curva Grande only for the Mercedes driver to move slightly to the right as they approached the Roggia chicane.
Hamilton to Mercedes: “I’ve been hit by Max. Right rear!”
Verstappen countered that: “Lewis didn’t leave a car’s width. I mean, I got a penalty for that.”
Race Control did not even note the incident, never mind referring it to the stewards to decide if a penalty was warranted.
But that wasn’t Verstappen’s only Lap 1 moment with a Mercedes driver as the reigning World Champion also had slight contact with Russell, who lost places into Turn 1 and dropped back to the Hamilton/Verstappen tussle.
Rejoining the track having taken a trip around the bollards at the Turn 1/2 chicane when he came up short as he battled the McLaren team-mates for the lead off the line, Russell rejoined as Hamilton and Verstappen came passed.
Into the path of Verstappen, the Red Bull driver tagged Russell’s endplate with the latter asking Mercedes to check it for damage.
He told Mercedes that he thought the front wing was “off” while Verstappen asked Red Bull to “check my left-rear tyre cause I touched a little bit”.
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