"Wily" Hamilton "gives as good as he gets" against Verstappen - Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has claimed Lewis Hamilton "gives as good as he gets" whilst defending the on-track conduct of Max Verstappen at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

For the second time in three races, Verstappen's defensive tactics were brought into question after a rugged move on the inside into turn one saw him keep the lead from his championship rival.

The move drew parallels to the controversial defence put on at turn four in Brazil for which the Dutchman escaped punishment, although this time around a five-second penalty was handed out.

With the accumulation of on-the-edge driving conduct from the Red Bull driver, Horner was asked to respond to suggestions Verstappen 'doesn't care' about other racers when 'flinging' his car into corners.

"I would ask you to look at Lewis' incident in the final corner where he pushed Max off in the same way," replied Horner.

"Any driver that's come through karting, and raced in any category, that is hard racing. That's how these kids have raced throughout their careers.

"Lewis gives just as good as he gets. He's very wily with the way he does it sometimes.

"But look at that last corner where he ran Max out wide there, and there was another corner as well where he has opened the steering wheel and he was into turn one, too.

"These two guys that are fighting over such fine margins, are pushing to the boundaries, if you don't want them to have the ability to run wide, put a gravel trap there."

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