Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have had their say on their close-fought battle for the lead at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday, with both running off of the circuit on lap 48 after a very hard defence from the Dutchman.
Hamilton, boosted by a fresh internal combustion engine in his Mercedes and motivated by a very tight disqualification call over his rear wing during Friday qualifying, was soaring through the field but, perhaps predictably, met the most stubborn defence up against Verstappen as they vied for the lead.
On lap 59, Lewis would take P1 but only after having seen a previous attempt on lap 48 fiercely rebuffed by the Dutchman, with both having to leave the track at turn 4 as they ran wide.
Mercedes evidently felt that Verstappen had run Hamilton off the road and they were straight on the radio to the stewards whilst Red Bull, of course, took the stance of it being hard but fair racing.
In the end, it was academic as Hamilton took victory but both have had their say on the moment post race:
"We both braked really late into the corner of course trying to get the position, so I think that was fair enough," said Verstappen.
"I knew when they said they were going to investigate that was the decision they were going to come to, whether it was right or wrong. I just didn't let it phase me, I just kept racing," Hamilton began.
"I'm not going to get into that. I need to look back at it. It's a racing incident at the end of the day. It doesn't really matter. I got the result I needed."