Before the 16th race of the season, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen exude a calm and collaborative approach to the championship fight and the rest of the season. In the run-up to the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix, the duo fighting for the title shook off any pressure in the heat of the hard-fought battle.
While the seven-time world champion Hamilton only leads the overall standings with two points, Verstappen seems to be unaffected by the pressure on his first title.
Red Bull Racing led the fight to Mercedes and put the reigning champions in a serious fight for their money. Both Verstappen and his team remain motivated and determined to win their respective titles.
Mercedes and Hamilton, on the other hand, finally have a serious competitor on their heels after seven long years of complete dominance. But the question remains, who is subject to the pressure of the fight and who will emerge victorious?
Hamilton and Verstappen approach the title print with their own unique attitude
Before the Turkish Grand Prix, Verstappen explained the mood of his team with the words:
“We are very relaxed, but also very focused”.
Undeterred by the pressure at this point in the season, he added:
“Of course we want to win, the whole team wants to win, so the mentality is definitely there. But you can’t force or stress anything – because we always want to do our best anyway. “
Hamilton prefers a different approach to dealing with title pressure by parting ways with the sport between races. The Brit, who attended the MET Gala after the Dutch Grand Prix, was spotted at Fashion Week in Paris recently after the Russian Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion stated:
“I love being able to part with the sport, and the intensity of this entire season is difficult for everyone who is on the track.”
Explaining his off-track approach, Hamilton said:
“… having something different, a different outlet to concentrate on, helps to reduce weight. So when I come back it always feels fresh when I go to a GP because I don’t think about it every day. I generally find it relatively easy [to absorb pressure] Having these other outlets gives me a lot of different ways to let off steam. “
Verstappen is in the running for the drivers ‘and possibly the first constructors’ title for Red Bull Racing since 2013. Despite these expectations on his shoulders, the young Dutchman has apparently remained calm in his approach.
Max Verstappen leads Lewis Hamilton at the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Bryn Lennon / Getty Images)
When asked, Verstappen said:
“I always give my best and know that the team is also doing their best, and if that’s the first at the end of the year – that’s a great achievement, of course, and that’s what we’re working for, isn’t it?”
For Verstappen, who has a longer career ahead of him than his rival, winning the title is not the end of the world. The 23-year-old Red Bull Racing driver stated:
“Even if we finished second, I think we would still have had a great season. And at the end of the day, it won’t really change my life. I mean, I enjoy what I do and I think that’s very important too. For me there is not much to fear. “
As Verstappen and his team approach the season with their own “one race at a time” approach, the Dutchman refused to overdo the title fight, saying:
“We are determined to try this together and make it a success. But you can’t force things. You just have to work well and hard together and then at the end of the season we’ll find out where that takes us. Is that the first, is that the second? We do not know it.”
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With 15 races on the books and seven more pending, both Verstappens and Hamilton’s diverse approaches contribute to the surging dynamism of one of the sport’s most exciting seasons since the dawn of the V6 turbo hybrid era.
Edited by Sandeep Banerjee
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