Hamilton did not have to give Max space: 'But maybe he should have'

The journalist saw that Verstappen wanted to fight his rival, which put him in a position he would always want to avoid beforehand. Then it was Hamilton who decided not to give his rival any space.

"The stewards reckoned Verstappen was primarily to blame. Which he may or may not have been," Hughes stated at The Race. "Certainly, he could have backed out of it by taking to the escape apron on the left, the small piece of survival space which allows you to miss the apex of Turn 2. But he preferred to fight it out."

Hamilton gave Verstappen no room

At that point, according to Hughes, there was no way he could do anything. "Once he was there, he was at the mercy of Hamilton who wasn’t obliged to give any. But maybe should have, because unless Hamilton moved a little to the right, Verstappen was always going to be forced over the kerbs as the track came to a point and that was always going to clatter him into Hamilton."