The needle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen came out in a recently released video by Viaplay. In the video, many drivers like Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, and Sergio Perez were asked to comment on Verstappen’s personality and his driving.
While all other drivers had complimentary things to say about the reigning world champion, Hamilton declined to comment altogether.
In the video, all the drivers were asked:
“What kind of person and what kind of driver do you see Max Verstappen as?”
Fernando Alonso was the first to answer as he said:
“He’s an amazing talent that we’re lucky to witness in our time and he’s dominating this year.”
Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen’s title rival this season, was also asked the same question, to which he replied:
“He is a very nice person, as a driver, he is extremely quick.”
The Dutchman’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez answered:
“He’s driving at a very high level at the moment. He’s someone I enjoy working with.”
Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen’s former teammate at Red Bull, said:
“I think he’s gained massive respect from everyone in the paddock and his peers. Obviously he has a massive fanbase and I think he’s earned all that.”
Lewis Hamilton, however, refused to answer the question and said:
“I won’t ever comment on either of those.”
There have been hints this year that things are not going well between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The Mercedes driver had earlier commented on how the battle between him and Charles Leclerc at Silverstone was much cleaner than what he faced last season. Verstappen replied to it as well, stating that Hamilton was actually hitting the apex this year compared to when the two drivers crashed last year at the 2021 F1 British GP.
Christian Horner feels Lewis Hamilton doesn’t acknowledge the talents of Verstappen
In a recent edition of the “Beyond the Grid” podcast, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed that there was a needle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton after last season. According to Horner, there was more respect between Verstappen and Charles Leclerc as compared to the equation Verstappen had with Hamilton.
| Christian Horner on the respect between Leclerc and Verstappen:
“There’s a difference, perhaps [Max has] a different respect with Charles. They’ve raced each other since they were kids, and there’s a mutual respect.”
“I’ve never once heard Lewis recognize Max’s ability.”
| Christian Horner on the respect between Leclerc and Verstappen: “There’s a difference, perhaps [Max has] a different respect with Charles. They’ve raced each other since they were kids, and there’s a mutual respect.”“I’ve never once heard Lewis recognize Max’s ability.”
The Red Bull boss said:
“You know, there’s a difference, there’s perhaps a different respect with Charles. They raced each other since [being] kids, and there was mutual respect. I’ve never once heard Lewis recognize Max’s ability. And so of course, there was just a bit more needle to it and you could feel that, and you could sense that between those two drivers.”
The two drivers had an intense title battle last season with Verstappen coming out on top. It will be interesting to see the dynamics if Mercedes are competitive against Red Bull next season.
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