Lewis Hamilton talks about the challenges of competing against Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for the 2021 world championship.
The title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen has reached the climax with the Dutchman holding an eight-point lead with two races to go.
The seven-time world champion explained how he keeps up with the young talent on the track while ensuring that nothing goes unfair. He said to BBC, “rather than giving someone the benefit of the doubt, you have to know that’s what’s going to happen.”
“So you always have to be ready to avoid a collision at all costs, [even} if it means going wide, because you want to see the end of the race, right? If you’re stubborn and you hold your ground, you’re going to crash,” he further added.
That’s what the British racing driver has tried to do as he aims for his record-breaking eighth world championship title. Meanwhile, for Verstappen, it is his first time this close to winning, and it would be an achievement that would mark the end of an era of Mercedes domination.
Lewis Hamilton has no regrets
The seven-time world champion has too decided to hold his ground when in a tough battle against the young driver. There have been times when Hamilton has not given way to the Dutchman on the track.
They have made contact twice on the track – at the British and the Italian Grand Prix. Hamilton received a penalty for the first one, while Verstappen got it for the second.
After the Silverstone incident, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner accused Hamilton of making a “reckless” and “amateur” move. Looking back, Hamilton says he has no regrets.
He says, “If you’re on the outside of a car, backing out is the sensible option pretty much all the time in order to see the end of the race. But, if you’re on the inside, there are scenarios where I truly believe I was in the right, [when] I’m almost wheel to wheel with the car.”
“At Silverstone, my front wheel was alongside his front wheel, so it wasn’t like my wheel was next to his rear wheel going in. If I had taken the approach Max did in Brazil, just stayed on the gas and gone off track and then kept position, what would the scenario have been there? Would they have looked into the rules there?”
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