Lewis Hamilton hopes that the Title battle between himself and Max Verstappen ends cleanly, without any crashes.
Hamilton and Verstappen have had two major crashes this season in Silverstone and Monza. In both cases, Verstappen had his race ended early whereas Hamilton got a DNF against his name after colliding with his rival in the latter race.
A few weeks ago, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff also hinted that Hamilton was ‘going to do whatever it takes’ to stop Verstappen from winning. Even if it meant crashing into each other.
Hamilton hopes there are no more crashes or incidents between the two drivers in the remaining rounds. He wants this colossal Championship fight to end ‘cleanly’.
“You just have to be very careful. More cautious than ever before. You have to know what can happen.” Hamilton said.
“You always have to be ready to do whatever you can to avoid the collision. Even if that means leaving the track. After all, you want to finish the race. If you are too stubborn and defend your position, you will crash.”
Also read: Verstappen insists that he is feeling calm ahead of the final two rounds of the 2021 F1 Championship
Lewis Hamilton has dealt with aggressive driving before
The Mercedes driver is one of the greatest of all time. He has been in the sport for over 14 years now and his experience could prove to be valuable against a driver who hasn’t been in a similar situation before.
The Briton said that Verstappen’s style of driving is not something that surprises him because he has dealt with similar opponents before.
Another hugely dramatic moment in the Verstappen/Hamilton title battle 💥😮#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/P4J4bN6wX2
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 12, 2021
“In Brazil, I made sure to avoid the collision. I was always very decent in situations like this, I would say. Of course, you don’t always get it done perfectly.” said the 7 time World Champion.
“He’s not my first opponent to act like this. Now that I’m a little older, I take a closer look at the characters of the other drivers and their personal backgrounds. How you grew up also has an impact on how you behave. I try to understand them.”
Hamilton’s advice for the younger F1 drivers
Lewis Hamilton added that the new drivers in F1 are generally more aggressive because of the environment they grew up racing in. He feels that drivers of his age were taught to be more conservative with their approach whereas the youngsters had too much protection, leaving them with little worry about the consequences.
This might have been a subtle dig at his rival Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver has been previously criticized for his ultra-aggressive style of driving.
“I want to tell the young drivers that the racetracks they grew up on all had large run-off areas,” Hamilton said.
“When I started racing, that wasn’t the case. That was more fun back then, but it was also riskier. You had to drive in such a way that you didn’t go over the limit. It was necessary to increase slowly. The new generation is simply going beyond the limits.”
Max is an extremely aggressive driver and his fans love him for that. Numerous drivers have said that they race differently with him due to his kamikaze style. Lewis matches Max’s aggression and Max fans lose their minds
— LukaS (@SkendyMan) July 18, 2021
“You go too far out and just come back on track. You don’t have to fear any consequences. We also know that we have more drivers from rich backgrounds today than ever before.”
“This is nothing new. But they are super ambitious. It’s a very decent squad of drivers who are striving for the top.”
“I don’t feel too big or too successful to avoid a fight. I know that sometimes you have to take this path. You have to be the clever one.” the 36 year old concluded.
