Verstappen Baffled By Frequent Crashes With Hamilton
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton have had an interesting association so far. They have featured in multiple on-track battles over the years that have often resulted in crashes. Max has now given his thoughts on this to Motorsport
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I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World:
Verstappen Baffled By Frequent Crashes With Hamilton
Max started off by suggesting that he and Lewis are more prone to colliding when battling hard
“I have to be careful what I’m saying here”
“But with everyone I’ve been fighting, it’s been really hard, aggressive battles and we never really came together”
“Somehow, with Lewis, it’s a different story. And I honestly don’t understand”
He then looked at one possible reason why this is the case
“I don’t understand. Maybe it’s just a generation thing, that [the younger drivers] understand each other better, we are racing nicer to each other. I don’t get it”
“But I don’t feel like I’m doing anything different to Lewis or to the other drivers in terms of how we’re racing”
He then cited the Brazil race weekend of 2022 as an example of this
“Because [during the sprint in Brazil] with George [Russell], we were having an incredible [battle] – closing the door, defending, out-braking each other”
“That was a lot of fun and I was trying to do the same in the main race [with Lewis], having that kind of battle. But, unfortunately, we couldn’t get it to work”
He signed off by clarifying that none of this is meant as a criticism
"In England, this [comment] can very quickly be received as criticism and then I’m being called out on it”
“I always respect Lewis a lot for what he has achieved in the sport, but that’s why I don’t really understand why we cannot really race like I’ve been doing with the others”
“Of course, everyone is different in their approach”
Fast Feed
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc believes “that Mercedes will be in the [title] fight [in 2023]” [FIA]
“Hopefully it will be a three team fight next year”
“I think the more cars are involved, the closer the cars are, the happier the drivers are, because that’s when it gets interesting”
Red Bull’s reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo recalled how he “defended from [Michael] Schumacher in the last part of the race [in Suzuka in 2012], and won the last point in 10th” [Speedcafe]
“That was just more like… yes, I was still intimidated by him at that time; obviously I was like, he’s God”
“The fact that I did that, and the level of comfort I felt defending him, I kind of surprised myself with my race craft”
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton revealed that when they “were fighting for fifth place, everyone was excited” [The Bild]
“Then it was about fourth place, and everyone was totally thrilled. It was a nice experience to be so happy about a fourth or fifth place”
“Also the feeling of fighting your way forward, of having the first third or second place, to feel ‘We are almost there’, that’s something we’ve all needed”
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon revealed that the current generation of F1 cars “are heavy, it has less grip, but the degradation is a bit less” [Racing News 365]
Teammate Pierre Gasly stated “If you look back over 22 races, you will find [missing] points [easily]”
“But I’ve learned [that], for our own mental health in F1, it’s better not to look back at all the missing points”
“Otherwise you’re getting to depression very fast”
Will there be a three-way fight for the F1 championship in 2023?