Lewis Hamilton smacks into bollard as Verstappen fumes after Las Vegas puncture

Lewis Hamilton previews Las Vegas Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton suffered a puncture during the Las Vegas Grand Prix after clashing with Oscar Piastri which could potentially ruin his race in Nevada as he smacked into a bollard. The Mercedes driver continued to drive with the puncture and Max Verstappen was among those unhappy with the Brit during the first half of the race.

A bollard was sent flying by Hamilton after he hit the racing instrument, after he made a move on the inside of Piastri and the two collided.

Both cars picked up some damage as Hamilton dropped all the way back to P19 as he attempted to keep racing while suspecting that he suffered a puncture.

The rear-right Mercedes tyre tagged the front-left McLaren and forced Hamilton eventually to pit for new tyres. Stewards looked at the incident and confirmed that no further investigation was required.

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Verstappen fumed over the team radio towards Hamilton as he said: “He didn’t move out of the way, man. He’s got a puncture and he drives a normal race line.”

Piastri also appeared to pick up a puncture although did not suffer the same drop as Hamilton, as McLaren avoided another disaster after Lando Norris had crashed out early into the race.

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Mercedes, however, suffered further misery just a few laps after Hamilton’s puncture when George Russell collided with Verstappen as they both jostled for position.

On lap 25, Verstappen made a move on Russell at Turn 12 and the pair made contact. The Brit’s car appeared to come off worse as he fell down the grid once a safety car was deployed and was then handed a five-second penalty.

Meanwhile, Hamilton initially struggled to move back up the order and faced an uphill battle to get into the points, but recovered to finish in seventh place.

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