Poleman Verstappen was overtaken by George Russell on the preliminary begin, and he then misplaced an extra spot at Flip three when, in Horner’s phrases, Hamilton “despatched a missile” down the within and made an aggressive move.
Verstappen then sat in third watching the Mercedes drivers battle earlier than Russell pitted when a security automotive got here out after Alex Albon crashed.
The following purple flag gave Hamilton and Verstappen a free tyre change and stored them on the entrance of the order.
A couple of laps after the restart, the Crimson Bull driver took the lead with a DRS transfer and started to drag clear on his strategy to an eventual victory.
“Clearly Max needed to make the move on Lewis,” mentioned Horner. “The 2 Mercedes have been quick beginning, they have been very aggressive on the primary lap, Max displaying nice persistence actually to not get embroiled.
“George acquired a blinder, and he simply despatched it down into the primary nook so Max acquired out of that, and by getting out of it to permit him by that then compromised him by T2.
“After which Fernando [Alonso] and Lewis get a run on him after which Lewis sends a missile down into T3.”
Horner praised his driver for leaving area for Hamilton.
“Once more, I believed he confirmed nice persistence to get out of the way in which,” he mentioned. “It was exhausting racing between the 2 of them, after which in fact the race was simply getting going, and it was fairly a combat between the three of them on the entrance.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14, Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing RB19, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23
Photograph by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“Gave the impression of George wasn’t glad about being pushed by Lewis, who in flip was being pushed exhausting by Max.
“Then they began having a go at one another, then they pitted George, then the purple flag got here out after which it was only a straight combat between Max and Lewis, and he made very quick work of that.
“Then it was a query of controlling the race from that time onwards.”
After the race, Verstappen made it clear that he wasn’t pleased with Hamilton’s first lap move.
“From my aspect, I simply tried to keep away from a contact,” mentioned the Dutchman. “It is fairly clear within the guidelines what you are allowed to do now on the skin. However clearly it isn’t adopted.
“However that is OK, we had good tempo and we handed them anyway. However it’s one thing for the subsequent races to bear in mind.”
Hamilton in distinction believed that his transfer was a good one, with each males giving one another respiratory area.
“I believed it was fairly first rate,” mentioned the seven-times world champion. “I imply, he braked early and I braked late, and I used to be totally up the within, and I believe we each left area for one another.
“I did not run him off the street and he did not flip in on me. So we did not contact, and that is racing.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff additionally noticed no situation with Hamilton’s transfer.
“We’ve a number of dialogue prior to now about racing guidelines,” mentioned the Austrian. “I do not assume that was a foul one.”
