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Verstappen: Not smart from a title contender

Cape Town - Max Verstappen reckons Sebastian Vettel wasn't "smart" at the start of the Singapore GP when he moved across to cover the Dutchman, leading to an accident and retirement.

Vettel fell 28 points behind Lewis Hamilton in Singapore when he retired, along with Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen, as a result of first corner contact between the trio. Hamilton won the race.

Verstappen believes Vettel is to blame for the crash despite the stewards ruling that it was a racing incident.

"It was not the smartest move and you cannot make excuses for it when you are fighting for the world championship," the Red Bull driver said.

"My start was a little bit better than Seb and he saw that so he tried to move to the left to squeeze me out of the line a bit. He did not know Kimi was on my other side.

"Kimi had a great start and was alongside me very quickly. He then started to squeeze me also, at which point there wasn't a lot I could do.

"If I made a mistake myself I would be upset or angry but there was nothing I could do. I don't think it was a racing incident. 

"We all lost out in the end so we all experienced some pain rather than someone making a mistake and then being able to carry on."

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