Lewis Hamilton v Max Verstappen: Inside the rivalry as the F1 title fight intensifies | F1 | Sports

The battle lines were really drawn when the duel between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen for the Formula 1 drivers championship at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last weekend intensified.

Verstappen’s dominant win proved that Red Bull could fight for the title against Mercedes for the first time since the start of the hybrid power era in 2014.

Both drivers enjoyed the opportunity to compete against each other in what could be a career-defining season.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton is chasing a record-breaking eighth title, while 23-year-old Verstappen has been touted as a future champion since his debut in 2015.

In Bahrain, Hamilton set the benchmark for his rival and managed to keep the Dutch driver in check and take home victory in the tense final laps.

But Imola showed that Verstappen was ready to risk everything. The eleven-time race winner made a daring move against Hamilton on the first lap as he tried to make up for his disappointing P3 start.

They ran side by side in line twoThe Red Bull refused to give up the racing line and forced the 36-year-old Mercedes driver over the curbs.

The incident was not investigated by the race stewards. However, both drivers disagreed about what happened.

“I don’t think we touched,” Verstappen said before Hamilton quietly realized they were.

The Red Bull driver added that he needed to see the footage when runner-up Hamilton said he believed his endplate was damaged.

This was later confirmed by Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes Trackside technical director, who stated that Hamilton lost up to six tenths of a second per lap due to the damage to the front wing of his car.

While this disagreement seems relatively minor, it is starting to create a tense atmosphere around the two drivers, neither of whom will give in to it other.

These thoughts are echoed by the 1996 World Champion Damon Hill, who spoke about the rivalry on the F1 Nation podcast.

He said: “What we are seeing now are just the small opening moments that will emerge over the course of the season.

“You score points, small dots apart. Max won it, not only winning the race, but also the first corner and the start.”

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Formula 1 is no stranger to dramatic rivalries. The Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna fights against the Frenchman Alain Prost perhaps the most notable and undeniably the stuff of legend.

Hamilton himself knows how volatile they can be as his friendship with former teammate Nico Rosberg turned sour when they dueled for the title in 2016.

Two races in and Hamilton is at the top of the drivers’ standings with 44 points, with only one point separating him and Verstappen.

Given that both of the drivers ‘teammates, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Red Bulls Sergio Perez, had a less than ideal start to the season, there is likely to be a one-on-one shootout for the title.

It’s too early to predict who will come out on top, but you must weigh the risk against the rewards if you are to win.

Consistency will be key as any of them can afford to lose points the other.

With the possibility that Hamilton will retire at the end of 2021 after signing just a one-year contract with his German team. This seems like a one-off battle between two of Formula 1’s greatest talents.