Verstappen relishes 'risky' reputation

Max Verstappen is happy to carry a reputation as a "risky" racer as it stops drivers from trying to overtake him. Lewis Hamilton ultimately failed to make a highly cautious overtake stick at the end of the United States Grand Prix, later admitting he had given the Red Bull "too much room".

Verstappen took second place from 28th on the grid at the Circuit of the Americas, aided by Hamilton bailing out of a passing attempt on the penultimate lap.

Discussing the incident in the post-race press conference, Hamilton told Verstappen: "I never know with you!"

In a pre-race interview, asked how he would approach a race start with Verstappen alongside him, Hamilton joked: "I would go to the left-hand side if Max is on the right."

Of Hamilton's remarks, Verstappen told Sky Sports: "I think that's a good thing. They might make it sound like I'm a little bit more risky but I'm just a hard racer."

"It's always good to race against world champions. He was very fair. Of course he's also thinking about the championship. It was cool."

Hamilton had approached Kimi Raikkonen with similar caution in Austin, Texas and said he was not willing to go full-blooded against drivers not challenging for the title in a race that he could have secured his fifth world championship.

"I was trying to win the race but you look at the two guys next to me, they're not fighting for a championship so I had to be very, very careful how I navigated around them," Hamilton said.

"Championships are not won by fighting and making silly mistakes.

"If that was me and Seb, for example, I would have been a lot more tighter and more aggressive if we were fighting for the championship, for example, but there was no need.

"The key was that I at least finished ahead of Seb and for me it doesn't matter when you win the championship as long as you get it done."

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