Various posters wrote:
If he was smarter at that moment, he could have gone wide on T2 entry, let Max overshoot racing line and take inside for T3 and then Ham could blast away on the straight with T3 better exit speed. Would have likely won the race with that kind of move. He knows how to do that, he did it a few times. Alonso always does that for example...
A few people have suggested just this, that Hamilton should bide his time and wait to get him at a later corner of straight. But how does that end?
Well, based on previous experience:-
a) Verstappen doesn't make the turn, spearing into you and ending up parked on top of you with his rear wheels resting on or near your helmet. At which point, he will then floor it. Better hope that sticky rubber isn't resting on your helmet.
b) You slipstream Verstappen down the straight and he simply brakes, mid-straight, so hard that he locks the rear axle. This will almost certainly end your race and also has a chance of seriously injuring you.
c) Verstappen will cover the inside of the corner so you will need to go around the outside. Verstappen will not only fail to make the corner, but will follow you 4 to 5 car widths off the track, presumably in the hopes of making contact with you (unless he is the worst driver F1 has seen in decades).
To be honest, given past history I'd rather we hit side-to-side at low speed than any of these, at least I'm not running the risk of being crippled. Sure, "Let Verstappen race" seems to have been limited to last year, but Verstappen confirmed in his after race comments that he cares neither about penalties nor whatever expenditure/work he creates for the rest of Red Bull Racing so why wouldn't he repeat his consistent pattern of behaviour?
It's strange that, despite the numerous opportunities to punt Verstappen off when Verstappen had something on the line, Hamilton didn't do so. But, now when Hamilton could have been looking at his first-and-only win of the season, Verstappen dive bombs him up the inside (admitting he knew it would end in contact and that, even if he overtook him, it would "mean nothing" to his own race). And, given what happened when roles were reversed and Ocon was on the inside and Verstappen the outside, at least Hamilton managed to not assault Verstappen in the weighing room afterwards.
None of these things were acceptable...until Verstappen "showed the world who he really is". But, yeah, "Safe hands"...