Max Verstappen has had an incredible 2023 season, winning 13 of the 15 races held so far. Even though the Dutchman has performed in a league of his own, the greatness of his dominance was recently downplayed by Lewis Hamilton. Now, leading up to the Singapore GP, as per a report by Formule1.nl, Verstappen has responded to the comments and has even thrown a subtle shade at the Mercedes driver.
A few weeks back, ahead of the Italian GP, Hamilton had commented that Verstappen’s dominance isn’t any different than many other drivers having their own spell of domination in the past. He went on and belittled the teammates of the Red Bull driver claiming that Verstappen hasn’t had to partner up with drivers as strong as Hamilton’s teammates.
Lewis: “My teammates have been stronger than the ones Max had. Fernando, Jenson, Valtteri, George, Nico…” pic.twitter.com/GvIbrau0Uq
— Stefanie (@fastpitstop) September 1, 2023
The Briton had said, “In my opinion, all my teammates have been stronger than the teammates Max has had. And Max hasn’t beaten anyone of the caliber of my teammates.” However, as it turns out, Verstappen has an entirely different view on this issue.
Max Verstappen does not really care about what Hamilton says
Max Verstappen spoke to a handful of Dutch media on Thursday and explained that he doesn’t really care about Hamilton’s comments. As per Verstappen, he is only focused on doing his job and once that is done, he doesn’t really think much about F1.
However, Verstappen also went on to throw a subtle shade on Hamilton and said, “It’s not nice of Hamilton towards the teammates I had, but it is ironic that after that interview of his in Monza, many of my teammates were ahead of him in qualifying.”
Hamilton had managed to qualify P8 in Monza. He was out-qualified by Alex Albon in a Williams who once was Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull. Moreover, Carlos Sainz, who managed to claim pole position for Ferrari’s home race, was also Verstappen’s teammate back when the duo was racing for Toro Rosso.
Verstappen likes to focus on his own performance
Verstappen also explained that he doesn’t really focus on how others are faring and instead chooses to focus on his own performance. “In my opinion, it doesn’t have to be about other people’s teammates. It’s about your own performance, how you perform in your race weekends, and how you work together with your team,” said the two-time World Champion.
Verstappen would be aiming for his 11th consecutive race win of the season at Singapore. However, with the FIA recently clamping down on the flexi-wings, which were apparently a major factor in Red Bull’s dominance, winning the Singapore GP will not be a cakewalk for Verstappen.
