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“Every driver is different”– Max Verstappen claims Lewis Hamilton prompted him to be aggressive in 2021

Tanish Chachra
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"Every driver is different"– Max Verstappen claims Lewis Hamilton prompted him to be aggressive in 2021

Max Verstappen talks about why he battles with Charles Leclerc differently compared to Lewis Hamilton in 2021, which led to messy conclusions.

In 2022, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is the top contender to take the championship tag away from Max Verstappen. So far, the battles between the two drivers have been respectful and clean.

Contrary to what Verstappen had with Lewis Hamilton in 2021, that led to two severe collisions. After the first three races, many pointed out the difference in the Dutchman battling against Leclerc and Hamilton.

With the Ferrari superstar, Verstappen seems less aggressive than the Briton. On this, Verstappen gives a simple explanation that the two drivers are entirely different. Thus, his driving style is different this year.

“Every driver is different, in the way they attack or defend. That’s why you always have to go into the fight in a unique way,” Verstappen said. He added: “It feels natural to compete against drivers that I have competed against in the past in karts and have now come to F1.”

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Max Verstappen is happy for the Ferrari duo

For a long, Mercedes, with Hamilton, was the hegemon in F1. But in 2022, things seem to be different, as the initial races projected the Silver Arrows struggling.

Verstappen, who sees his childhood rival finally challenging him for the title, this shift is pleasing. On the other hand,m he is happy about the rise of his former Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz.

“In particular Charles; it’s nice to see that we are two young guys competing for victories – we’ve fought some nice duels so far. I’m [also] happy that my friend [Carlos] Sainz is now driving a competitive Ferrari, after we made our debut together in 2015.”

Currently, Ferrari is leading the constructors’ championship by a mile. Both Red Bull and Mercedes are having problems with reliability and speed, respectively. So, it has given a considerable edge to the Tifosis in the initial races of the season.

On the other hand, Leclerc stands at the top of the charts with 71 points. He has more issues than Red Bull, and Mercedes have in the constructors’ standings. Indeed an impressive momentum with the Monegasque. It only remains to be seen how long it stays.

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About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra

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Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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