The speculations surrounding Sergio Perez’s future continue as he has underperformed massively in recent times. Despite having the best car on the grid, the Red Bull driver has failed to make it into Q3 in five consecutive races now. Since the Mexican has been underperforming, there are rumors that Red Bull are keen to replace him. And as the team continues their hunt for a replacement, there is one driver who seemingly has a vendetta against Lewis Hamilton that is keen on becoming Max Verstappen’s teammate.
And that driver is Nico Hulkenberg. Following the conclusion of the Austrian Grand Prix two weeks ago, Hulkenberg slammed Hamilton for continuously complaining. While speaking to Servus TV (as quoted by planetf1.com), Hulkenberg said, “You’d have to say Lewis was a little spoiled by success. He is a guy who is quick to complain these days“.
Hulkenberg made these remarks after Hamilton slammed the Mercedes car on his team radio while racing at the Austrian GP. And with the German now having praised Verstappen just weeks after, it seems clear which of the two arch-rivals he respects more.
Nico Hulkenberg hails “absolute killer” Max Verstappen
While speaking in a recent conversation with AD (as quoted by racingnews365.nl), Nico Hulkenberg was all praises for Max Verstappen. When asked how he sees the Dutchman, the Haas driver replied, “As an absolute killer. He’s just so unbelievably good. So much natural talent, but he’s also a really nice and charming human being. A no-nonsense guy. He just tells you how it is, is honest with you“.
After hailing Verstappen, Hulkenberg added how he also had some talks with Helmut Marko in the past but that he “never had the idea that it really got serious” at any point of time. The German believes that such a move would have been good for him as he was keen on taking the “ultimate challenge” of competing with Verstappen in the same machinery.
Even though the 35-year-old has revealed his hope of becoming Verstappen’s teammate, Red Bull’s philosophy of grooming young drivers may prevent them from signing the German. While only time will tell what driver line-up does Red Bull choose for the next season, it seems clear that most other racers have contrasting opinions about how they perceive arch-rivals Hamilton and Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton continues to pressurize the FIA to eliminate Red Bull’s domination
Lewis Hamilton has been far from happy to see the way Red Bull and Max Verstappen have been dominating the 2023 season. Since the Milton Keynes outfit have won each of the 10 races so far this year, the Briton has urged the FIA to change their rules to reduce such kind of domination from teams.
With Red Bull currently dominating, Hamilton fears that they would have already begun working on next year’s car to get a head start over the other teams. And with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner having confirmed the same, the Mercedes driver wants the FIA to have a timeline of when teams can begin working on next year’s car.
And as expected, Verstappen is miffed by Hamilton’s recent remarks. In reply, the Dutchman explained how the 38-year-old has forgotten his period of domination when he won six of his seven world championships during the turbo-hybrid era between 2014 and 2021. And as the two arch-rivals continue to be at odds with one another, the ball is now in the FIA’s court to decide what they deem as the best for the sport.
