Lewis Hamilton called his title rival Max Verstappen 'crazy' in a foul-mouthed radio message before accusing him of not driving by the rules

• Lewis Hamilton called his F1 title rival Max Verstappen "fucking crazy" amid a heated on-track battle.
• He later claimed that the rules don't seem to apply to Verstappen, despite him getting two penalties.

Lewis Hamilton labelled his main Formula One title rival "fucking crazy" during an intense battle between the two at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Just as they have done all season, Hamilton and Verstappen went toe-to-toe on Sunday as they fight to the wire for the F1 Drivers' Championship.

The aggressive nature of the pair's title battle bubbled over on numerous occasions during one of the most eventful races in the sport in years.

Most notably, at the end of the 37th lap, Hamilton crashed into the back of Verstappen, claiming the Dutchman had deliberately slowed down in a move known as a "brake check."

Before that, however, Hamilton's annoyance at his title rival was clear in an incident earlier in the same lap.

As Hamilton attempted to overtake Verstappen at the start of lap 37, the Dutchman defended hard, but in doing so left the track to maintain the lead, which is illegal in F1.

The British driver was then heard on the radio telling his team: "This guy's fucking crazy man."

You can see the incident, starting at around 11 minutes, below:

After the fighting had finished, the pair sat alongside one another in the post-race press conference where Hamilton accused Verstappen of not obeying the rules.

"I don't think I've changed the way that I race," he said, as reported by Race Fans.

"I think we've seen multiple instances this year — even with Brazil — we're supposed to do our racing on track in between the white lines. And the rules haven't been clear from the stewards — those things have been allowed, so that's continued.

"From my understanding, I know that I can't overtake someone and go off track and then keep the position. I think that's well known between all us drivers – but it doesn't apply to one of us, I guess."

Verstappen was given two penalties for his driving Sunday, one five-second penalty for the overtaking infringement, and a 10-second penalty for the crash.

Speaking after the race, Verstappen said he did not want to waste time making headlines.

"Emotions were running high at the time and it is what it is," he said, as reported by the Guardian.

"I don't agree with the decisions but I don't want to waste too much time on it because we don't need to make headlines out of it.

"They [Mercedes] don't deserve that."