On Thursday afternoon in Budapest, Max Verstappen lost the British Grand Prix for the second time.

If the leader of the Formula 1 World Championship and his Red Bull team were innocent victims of a foul by Lewis Hamilton two weeks ago at Silverstone, the Dutchman now has to ask himself how much his team contributed to the second defeat - in front of the stewards Has.

Christoph Becker

Sports editor.

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Red Bull had announced that they would be able to present new evidence before the race on the Hungaroring, to which Verstappen arrives with an eight point lead over Hamilton.

They should explain that Hamilton was punished too mildly for his guilt for the collision on the first lap of the race at Silverstone in the Copse corner during the race.

Hamilton had received a ten-second penalty and then raced to the home win, which had made the race for the world championship exciting again.

Red Bull had calculated the damage suffered at 1.5 million euros.

But the plaintiffs' litigation was not convincing, and the evidence Red Bull had put forward was "neither essentially nor significantly new".

So there is no chance of the proceedings being reopened, suit dismissed.

Accusation of the world championship team

The press conference before the race in Hungary on Sunday (3 p.m. / Sky) showed that Verstappen is still busy with the very unfortunate race at Silverstone. It came to his personal indictment of the world championship team Mercedes. “The reaction of the team, you won't celebrate a victory like this. Especially not one you picked up like that. I found that disrespectful, and it shows who they really are. I wouldn't want to be seen like that. "

It was disrespectful, said Verstappen, "when one is in the hospital and the other waves the flag as if nothing had happened after he pushed you into the wall with 51 g (centrifugal forces, editor's note)." Flashback in the Midlands on Sunday before last: While Hamilton missed the opportunity in front of full grandstands, Verstappen had to be checked through in a hospital in Coventry.

Hamilton's jubilation drove the Dutchman's blood pressure up so vigorously that he still had to blow off steam in Mogyorod.

"The will remains the same"

World champion Hamilton had reached the Dutchman in the meantime by phone, apparently without the two being able to reach an amicable agreement in a personal relationship. He wanted to let Verstappen know that his respect was still there. In fact, the Briton hadn't even carefully hidden another arrow for use in a psychological duel. Because that with the respect that “maybe not based on reciprocity, but that's okay”.

Hamilton will cheer again, even without fans and outside of home, should the race result give him cause, that much is certain. At the party in England he only let out "his natural emotions". He tries to pull Verstappen into a duel, which he says he wants to avoid. “The will remains the same. We're here as a team to win the race. Hopefully not in combat, but by simply driving away. "

At least until the start of the race, Mercedes and Hamilton are now in a comfortable situation, despite their own fault for the accident in England. Your opponents have put a lot of time, effort and emotion into an event that obviously cannot be changed. And that before the Grand Prix on a course on which Red Bull has not won since 2014. In the past two years, Hamilton had won before Verstappen, the last two of Hamilton's eight victories at the Hungaroring. Only in Bahrain has the Briton been more successful.