Verstappen insists he has "nothing to prove" after Hamilton claim

Max Verstappen has refuted Lewis Hamilton's claim he has "something to prove" in their F1 title fight after coming dangerously close to contact this season.

In each of the opening four races, Verstappen and Hamilton have raced wheel to wheel, with the pair narrowly avoiding touching, in particular, when the Red Bull driver dived up the inside of the Mercedes at turn one at Imola and Barcelona.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has suggested it would be inevitable the two would clash at some point this season, with Hamilton following up those claims by saying he felt Verstappen "has a lot to prove, I am not necessarily in the same boat there."

Responding, Verstappen said: "Nope, I have nothing to prove. Avoiding contact... I think it goes both ways so we have done well, that is true.

"We have raced well and we have avoided contact both sides. Let's hope we can keep doing that and keep being on track and race hard against each other."

When pressed further on the subject and asked whether he, too, felt contact would be inevitable, Verstappen replied: "I honestly don't know what to say any more about these things.

"We never try to crash, do we? This is just to make a few interesting headlines, I guess you get more views when you say it is a matter of time rather than saying we have had some great races. People will clickbait that one."

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