Daniel Ricciardo Reckons ‘Inspector’ Lewis Hamilton Was Cleverly Trying to Get Max Verstappen to Spill the Beans About Red Bull Pace

Srijon Jana | 20/06/2023
Daniel Ricciardo Reckons ‘Inspector’ Lewis Hamilton Was Cleverly Trying to Get Max Verstappen to Spill the Beans About Red Bull Pace

The Canadian GP was quite a successful one for Lewis Hamilton as he has now bagged back-to-back podium finishes this season. After the race, Hamilton, along with Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso, went to the cool-down room and had a quick chat about the race. However, Red Bull’s reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo believes Hamilton was trying to catch Verstappen off guard and gain information from him about the Red Bull Car in the cool-down room.

Drivers who finish in the podium places usually head to a cool-down room after the race before getting on the podium. They replenish their lost fluids while also getting an opportunity to talk to their rivals about the race. Similarly, after the Canadian GP, Hamilton, Alonso, and Verstappen headed to the cool-down room and had a calm chat.

Hamilton and Verstappen indulged in a conversation about how the race went for them. The Briton got candid and opened up about the lack of pace of the Mercedes in the slow corners. At the same time, he also applauded Red Bull’s untouchable pace.

Daniel Ricciardo reveals the Lewis Hamilton masterplan

Daniel Ricciardo, however, does not see the whole incident as a normal chat between rivals. In a live watch-along of the race that Ricciardo hosted with Canadian actor Will Arnett, the Honeybadger claimed that Hamilton was trying to gain information from Verstappen regarding Red Bull.

“It’s interesting you know,” said Ricciardo as per GP Fans.com. “I see it as Lewis has gone up to him thinking he’s vulnerable and might let his guard down and try and get some information about the car and give it back to the team”

Luckily for Red Bull, Verstappen did not really give much information to the Mercedes driver. Ricciardo explained that he has quite a bit of experience of being in those rooms and he knows for a fact that a driver cannot get complacent even in the cool-down rooms.

The return of ‘Inspector’ Lewis

Lewis Hamilton was very straightforward with Verstappen in the cool-down room. While talking about the race, Hamilton said directly, “We suck in the low-speed corners.” The Briton followed it up and said, “Your rear end is insane.”

Alonso, who was a bit late to arrive at the party, asked Hamilton if he was talking about the Spaniard’s car. Hamilton cleared it up but also appreciated the rear end of Alonso’s Aston Martin.

Hamilton had taken another attempt to unravel the mystery behind Red Bull’s pace. This was before everyone headed to the cool-down room. Hamilton stayed back where the top three cars were parked and was seen taking a hard look at the Red Bull.

This is not the first time Hamilton was seen inspecting the cars of his opponent. A similar event had happened in Monaco, where the Mercedes driver was seen peeking into Aston Martin’s garage – leading the fans to name him ‘Inspector Lewis’

Hamilton currently holds fourth place in the drivers’ championship standings with 102 points to his name. On the contrary, Verstappen is at the very top, with 195 points to his name. Catching up to Verstappen does not seem like a possibility at the moment for Hamilton, however, he would definitely want to get past Fernando Alonso, who is P3 in the standings with 117 points.

Post Edited By: Pritam Priyedarshi
Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen Mercedes Red Bull

About the author

Srijon Jana

Srijon Jana is a Formula 1 writer at The SportsRush. As a medical undergrad with a passion for motorsports, Srijon loves juggling between cadavers and cars with ease. He started watching F1 when he was only 11, and the beautiful cars grabbed his interest. Even now, he religiously follows all the Grands Prix, and when he is not gushing over Charles Leclerc, he likes to dabble in football as well. He is a college quizzer with several state-level and national-level accolades. He is a proud Ferrari fan, and loves to pass his free time reading, watching movies, and spending some quality time with his friends and family.

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