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“Mercedes are finally showing their true colors”: Max Verstappen believes that the Silver Arrows are being overly aggressive towards Red Bull lately

Somin Bhattacharjee
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"Mercedes are finally showing their true colors": Max Verstappen believes that the Silver Arrows are being overly aggressive towards Red Bull lately

Max Verstappen feels that Mercedes have taken an aggressive approach towards his team lately and are finally ‘showing their true colors’. 

The battle between Red Bull and Mercedes has been heated all season long. However, relationship between the two have soured further, following the Sao Paolo GP last week.

Max appeared to push Lewis off track to hold his position in the 48th lap. This was met with anger in the Mercedes garage which was aggravated after the stewards decided not to penalize the Dutchman. Earlier this week, the Brackley based team requested a ‘right for review’ for the incident in Brazil.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted that he was done playing nice. He called the decision by the FIA ‘laughable’ and stated that diplomacy was over.

Verstappen seems to think that Mercedes are blowing this entire saga way out of proportion.

Also read: F1 Twitter reacts as reports emerge that Netflix will be filming with Red Bull at the Qatar Grand Prix

“You can see their true nature come out”- says Max Verstappen

In spite of Max’s questionable driving at Interlagos, Lewis won the race. The Mercedes was much faster than the Red Bull last week and 24 year old could not hold Hamilton off.

Despite the result, Mercedes seem hell bent on forcing some sort of penalty on the Red Bull driver. When asked if Toto Wolff and Mercedes are being too aggressive with the Milton-Keynes based team, Verstappen replied by saying that he is not at all surprised.

“Then of course, you can see their true nature coming out,” Verstappen said. “It’s not my team, of course, so I don’t have to deal with that. But that’s when you show your true colors and show who you really are.

“I think it’s important for us to just concentrate on ourselves and stay focused, like we always have been doing. “So that’s what we will do for the next races as well.”

Also read: Lewis Hamilton claims F1 needs to scrutinize Saudi Arabia and Qatar over their human rights issues

Verstappen calls for a change in engine penalties handed out by the FIA

Hamilton started the Sao Paolo GP from 10th place. That came after the Briton took a 5 place grid penalty for changing his Internal Combustion Engine. The upgrades in his engine allowed him to breeze past the other cars due to a massive straight line speed advantage.

Verstappen said that he hopes the FIA look at how engine penalties are handed out in the future. “The first time it’s 10 places back and after that it’s five, and I find that a bit illogical,” Verstappen said.

“If you keep taking engine penalties, I think it should just stay the same [number of grid places], because you’re going over the same limit all the time.

“Yes, that’s something that could be looked at, because in Brazil, you clearly saw that the rest of the teams didn’t have a chance to do anything against Red Bull and Mercedes. “So a penalty like that is not really that big of a deal.” he concluded.

Verstappen is currently 14 points ahead of Hamilton in the standings with just 3 more races to go in 2021. F1 makes its debut in Qatar this weekend when the lights go out at the Losail International Circuit.

About the author

Somin Bhattacharjee

Somin Bhattacharjee

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Formula 1 Editor Somin Bhattacharjee fell for the sport as well as Fernando Alonso on the same day — during the Spaniard’s thrilling victory at the German GP in 2010. Over the years, the passion magnified manyfold, and metamorphosed into a writing career in 2021. Though holding a bachelor's degree in marketing, Somin discovered his true calling in writing. He has penned over 2,700 articles for TheSportsRush, presenting a diverse range — news reports, opinions, and exclusives. A true Tiffosi, Somin never gives up on a chance to defend the Ferrari boys as a fan. As a sports writer though, he remains objective to the core and relishes opportunities to follow and engage in dissecting the action during races. That’s where the real thrill lies for him. Beyond the racetrack, Somin plays different sports including soccer. He enjoys exploring other sporting events and proudly supports Spanish soccer club Real Madrid.

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