Then there was another Safety Car when Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas stopped, allowing Hamilton to take the lead and tilting the race back in Mercedes' favour.
George Russell made the call to come into the pits and change to soft tyres, meaning Hamilton was a sitting duck and was immediately overtaken by Verstappen when the race restarted.
Adding insult to injury, Hamilton was passed by Charles Leclerc and missed out on the podium - a cruel result when victory was within reach.
The seven-time world champion was furious Mercedes let Russell pit and didn't keep his teammate out on the track to act as a buffer between Hamilton and Verstappen.
"That was the biggest f*** up," Hamilton fumed over team radio.
"I can't believe how much you guys f***ed me."
The race brought back memories of last year's epic season finale in Abu Dhabi, which also saw Verstappen pass Hamilton in the dying stages to famously claim the championship.
In this morning's race, Red Bull had excellent straight-line speed and Verstappen may have still overtaken both Russell and Hamilton even if Mercedes kept them both out on the track.
But Mercedes' decision to allow Russell to pit and not leave him out to try and block Verstappen was heavily criticised by fans and pundits.
On his post-race cool down lap, Hamilton specifically thanked the Mercedes mechanics for the efforts - in a pointed dig at his team's pit wall strategists.
"To all the mechanics fantastic job today," he said.
"Those were the best pit stops we've had all year, so thank you with the continued efforts. Let's keep pushing, we still got points today."
He later walked back his language and apologised to Mercedes for his radio outburst.
"I was really hopefully we were going to get a 1-2 together as a team after an up and down year and we've not had a win since Brazil," Hamilton said post-race.
"It's finally there within our grasp and of course the safety car really didn't help and I was on the edge of breaking point with emotions.
"My apologies to the team because I don't even remember what I said. I just lost it for a second. But I think they know it's just so much passion. I want to look at as a glass half full."
