Verstappen: Ocon’s smile made me push him

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Max Verstappen: Explains Ocon push

Max Verstappen: Explains Ocon push

Max Verstappen has said he felt compelled to push Esteban Ocon in Brazil because of his reaction to his question.

Verstappen said on team radio after the race that he would go and find Ocon, who ruined his chance of clinching back-to-back victories for the first time in Formula 1.

The Red Bull driver found his old rival whilst in weighing room, with cameras catching Verstappen pushing Ocon around before the FIA stewards intervened.

Now Verstappen has revealed why he reacted in such a manner.

“It is always easy to talk afterwards,” Verstappen told Ziggo Sport on Monday evening.

“I just wanted to look for him and ask ‘what was going on, how could something like this happen?’

“But he immediately answered ‘I was faster than you’ and said it with such a smile on his face.

“I tried to be as positive as possible towards my mechanics, but of course this second place doesn’t feel right.

“And then you meet someone like him who doesn’t even apologise for what happened and reacts exactly the other way around.”

Verstappen then had a pretty dismissive response when asked if Ocon was trying to get some revenge from their previous battles in F3.

The Dutchman replied: “”No, and he’s actually no competitor at all in Formula 1.

“I just focus on the people I have to focus on, and try to beat drivers who have good material as well.”

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