“I wouldn’t say so”– Lewis Hamilton claims championship rivalry with Max Verstappen is not the toughest of his career

Tanish Chachra | 27/10/2021
"I wouldn’t say so"– Lewis Hamilton claims championship rivalry with Max Verstappen is not the toughest of his career

“I wouldn’t say so”– Lewis Hamilton maintains his rivalry with Max Verstappen is not the most formidable challenge he faced in his career.

For the first time in the turbo-hybrid era, Lewis Hamilton is being challenged so intensively by a non-Mercedes driver. The Briton currently stands 12 points behind Max Verstappen in the championship.

However, Hamilton doesn’t think this is not the toughest challenge he has faced in his career, and there have been more robust battles he had in his past years.

“No, I wouldn’t say so,” he said when asked by Sky Sports. “I was thinking earlier on today about all the championships I’ve fought in since I was 10.

“And there have been so many difficult moments and they are all very similar in their own way, but all unique in their own way at the same time.”

The duo has given some exciting spectacles this season, with the recent most being in Austin. The Dutchman won against the seven-time world champion with a marginal difference to extend his lead in the table.

Lewis Hamilton optimistic

With the next two races held in Brazil and Mexico, Red Bull is touted to be at an advantage. However, Hamilton is still optimistic and claims his team has learnt from his mistakes and can bring him his eighth world title.

“It could be better in the sense we’ve dropped points, we’ve not always been perfect. But you live and learn. I feel like things have happened the way they have for a reason – we’ve learned a lot.”

However, Mercedes are still suffering from engine reliability issues that could hamper their title prospects. With Valtteri Bottas taking a staggering six engines this year, Mercedes lost points to Red Bull in this department.

Moreover, Mercedes would also be hoping to complete the season without giving a new engine to Hamilton to keep him for the title contention.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen Mercedes Red Bull

About the author

Tanish Chachra

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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