ABU DHABI – Max Verstappen says his opinion of Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes team has gone downhill in their championship fight in 2021.
Verstappen and Hamilton have collided on the track three times this season and went into the final race of the year, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, on points. Verstappen will win in the event of a draw by having one more win this season.
Those collisions have sparked controversy, the first of them at the British Grand Prix really changed the tone of the title battle.
Verstappen was left in a heavy crash with the barriers after colliding with Hamilton as they battled for the lead in the opening round.
Hamilton overcame the penalty 10 seconds from that incident to win the race. In addition, Verstappen and Red Bull are furious about the way Hamilton and Mercedes celebrated the win while he was still being checked out in hospital.
Hamilton is the most successful driver in F1 history in terms of wins and is looking for a record eighth championship this weekend, but Verstappen said he thinks less of the British driver now than he did before the season. prize.
Asked on a Zoom media call on Thursday whether his opinion of Hamilton and Mercedes would change this year in their battle, Verstappen said: “There are so many, and not in a positive way.”
The fight for the title will be decided on December 12. Given the tense nature of the title battle so far, there are fears that the championship will be decided by a collision.
The FIA’s race director, Michael Masi, issued a reminder of the rules ahead of this weekend’s race, stating the drivers may be penalized or banned from racing if they are deemed to have intentionally crashed into an opponent to win the championship.
While that looks to be aimed at Verstappen as he leads the tie-break, Hamilton will only need to finish 10th if Verstappen doesn’t finish the race.
During the Zoom call, a journalist made a mistake and asked Verstappen if he would “congratulate Max” if he won the title on Sunday.
Verstappen laughed and said, “I’ll congratulate myself, yeah.”
When the journalist corrected him and asked if he would congratulate Hamilton if he won, Verstappen said: “If everything is fair, it certainly is.”
Verstappen also alluded to doubts about the legitimacy of the Mercedes earlier in the season. In Brazil, Red Bull argued that the Mercedes rear wing had failed to function according to regulations, even though that part of the car passed the FIA’s legality tests following that allegation.
“Of course checks will always be done,” Verstappen said. “Unfortunately, we were not able to re-test the car and how it was in previous races during the season, because for sure a number of things happened. But it was like.”
After Verstappen’s public call, he sat with Hamilton at the FIA press conference at the weekend. However, Verstappen’s quotes about Hamilton are very limited compared to what he had said a few hours earlier.
