Max Verstappen was left furious in the 2026 Miami Grand Prix sprint after Lewis Hamilton did not immediately re-pass him when told to give the place back. The Red Bull driver said the delay cost him four seconds and left the pair “wasting our time.”
The flashpoint came after Hamilton told his team that Max Verstappen had overtaken him off-track, prompting Gianpiero Lambiase to radio the Dutchman and say it was best he give the position back. Verstappen then slowed on the straight approaching turn 17, but Hamilton hesitated before eventually going through as they came out of the corner.
Verstappen’s frustration was clear on the radio. “Why is he not taking it? Fuck’s sake,” he said, before later telling Sky that he had to let Hamilton by, but Hamilton stayed behind him and cost him four seconds. “That’s where we wasted our time,” Verstappen said. “I don’t know what else I could have done there, so that’s a bit of a shame.”
The sequence recalled a similar clash between the pair in Saudi Arabia in 2021, when Verstappen was told to let Hamilton past, slowed near the DRS activation line and then made further room before Hamilton ran into him. Verstappen was penalised after that race for causing a collision, while Hamilton had also slowed and declined to go through at that stage.
This time, the outcome was less dramatic but still awkward. Hamilton eventually got ahead out of turn 17, only for Verstappen to retake the position on the next lap at the same corner. The exchange also came against the backdrop of another instruction from Lambiase in Spain last year, when Verstappen was told to let George Russell through after they went off-track, only for stewards later to say the move had not been necessary.
The Miami sprint incident will leave both sides with familiar questions about when a driver should yield and how quickly the other car should accept the invitation. For Verstappen, the answer on Saturday was simple: the delay did not just cost him time, it turned a routine correction into another argument with Hamilton.
