Lewis Hamilton : “Max is super fast and he’s going to get stronger”

In an interview with BBC The seven-time Formula 1 World champion, Lewis Hamilton talked about the challenge of racing wheel to wheel with Max Verstappen along with other topics like personal relationship with Verstappen, 2021 Diva Mercedes car, Why he made it to F1 as the sport’s only black driver, The challenges of Covid and The future.

The tight title battle between Hamilton and Verstappen has created a tense relationship between Mercedes and Red Bull. Toto Wolff and Christian Horner jawing each other to take psychological advantage over other.

But apart from one or two incidents like Monza and Silverstone, there has been no personal animosity between the two title rivals. Hamilton says the impression reflects the reality, at least from his side.

“I can’t speak for him. I’ve raced against people who’ve shown something on one face but actually it’s something different,” Hamilton says. “I don’t know if that’s the case on the other side.

“For me, look, I’m 36. I’ve been doing this a long time so it’s not the first time I’ve been faced with a driver that’s been good and bad in certain ways and I think I’m in just a much better position to be able to handle that, to deal with that. Particularly in the limelight and the pressures of the sport.

“I know that he’s a super-fast guy, and he’s going to get stronger and stronger as he matures over time. Which he will no doubt do.

“Look at myself when I was 24, 25. Jeez, the mistakes I was making back then. I had the speed but I was going through a lot of different experiences outside the car and also being in the limelight – the pressures of being at the front.

“I don’t think I did much right then so I don’t hold that against anybody.”

Hamilton on wheel to wheel battle with Verstappen

The Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton going for record breaking 8th title this season while Red Bull and Max Verstappen trying to stop the Mercedes sweep of turbo hybrid era by winning Dutchman’s first F1 title and fifth constructor title for Red Bull.

Both teams are fighting hard and all four drivers doing their part in this epic battle. Going into the final two races, Driver’s championship is separated by just 8 points while five points differentiates constructor battle.

It’s a contest that will be remembered for years to come, and the season has been marked by a series of flashpoints between the two top drivers in their wheel-to-wheel battles.

They have collided twice – at the British GP and Italian Grands Prix. Hamilton was penalized for the first one; Verstappen for the second.

After the Silverstone incident, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner accused Hamilton of making a “reckless” and “amateur” move. Looking back, Hamilton says he has no regrets.

“If you’re on the outside of a car, backing out is the sensible option pretty much all the time in order to see the end of the race,” he says. “If you’re on the inside, there are scenarios where I truly believe I was in the right, [when] I’m almost wheel to wheel with the car.

“At Silverstone, for example. Go and look at the footage. My front wheel was alongside his front wheel, so it wasn’t like my wheel was next to his rear wheel going in.

“And in that scenario, if I had taken the approach [Max did] for example [in Brazil], just stayed on the gas and gone off track and then kept position, what would the scenario have been there? Would they have looked into the rules there?

“But anyways. I don’t mind being the one that… I am not too big or too successful to have to back out to fight another day. I know that is sometimes the route you have to take. You have to be the smarter one.

“And sometimes you lose points in doing that, for sure, but it’s not just about me. I have 2,000 people behind me and through that selfish decision I could make – ‘No, I’m going to hold my ground’ and don’t finish – that costs all my team potential bonuses at the end of the year, all the hard work they have to do, the damage of the car. I am conscious of those things also.”

He admits, though, that the calculations involved are different as the season ebbs and flows. Silverstone came after five consecutive Red Bull wins, over which time Verstappen built up a 32-point championship lead.

“It has just been different scenarios,” Hamilton says. “I wouldn’t say I have necessarily had to change my approach but I would say definitely there has been a need to gain points – and you have to get a little bit less willing to give up too much, because bit by bit you are losing more points as the season goes on. I was quite far behind in points at that time.”