Lewis Hamilton has insinuated Max Verstappen is a “bully” on track, stating he is “aggressive as hell” when racing wheel-to-wheel.
The two drivers had an increasingly fractious championship duel last year, with several flashpoints across the season right up until the now infamous final lap in Abu Dhabi.
Twice the pair would collide, the first instance occurring at Silverstone where Verstappen was sent into the barriers at high-speed on Lap 1 before Lewis went on to win, then at Monza, a clumsy coming together saw Max go over the top of Hamilton’s car as both ended up in the gravel.
Additionally, there was the crazy race in Jeddah where Verstappen pushed Lewis off-track after sending it into Turn 1 before Hamilton would hit the Red Bull as Max unexpectedly slowed down to let the Mercedes through to avoid a penalty that was eventually given.
Given there was rarely a close call when they went wheel-to-wheel, it’s probably unsurprising that the seven-time world champion isn’t a big fan of how the current world champion races.
“I think Max is aggressive as hell, and more often than not, he pushes it to the limit and beyond,” Lewis says in the new Drive to Survive Netflix Docuseries.
“I’ve raced against a lot of drivers, there are always bullies, but that’s not how I operate. I just try and beat them on track.”
But is Verstappen really the “bully” that Hamilton suggests, or has Lewis himself perhaps gone a little soft?
There is no denying the Dutchman has a reputation for roughing drivers up on the track and occasionally getting it wrong.
Just think back to when he blocked Kimi Raikkonen at Spa in 2016 or his numerous incidents in the early races of 2018.
Since then his approach, while still very aggressive, has been a little more measured, resulting in some very good battles, notably with Charles Leclerc in Austria and at Silverstone in 2019.
And for much of last year, he continued that approach, attacking at prime moments such as race starts or moments when Hamilton was vulnerable, such as at Monza.
Instead, it was only when Mercedes deployed the so-called ‘rocket’ engine in Brazil – and it became clear the Red Bull couldn’t compete on the straights – that Verstappen resorted to more extreme tactics, resulting in the controversies at Interlagos and in Jeddah.
There are other factors to consider too.
Since 2014, Hamilton has only really had one main competitor for the championship each year, Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas or Sebastian Vettel.
In those battles, he had the ‘rules of engagement’ laid out by Mercedes, while Vettel has rarely shown the same aggression that Max does almost every time he’s wheel-to-wheel.
As a result, the Lewis that burst onto the scene in 2007, and had some very Verstappen-like traits during his early years in F1, has mellowed.
More significantly though, when Hamilton and Verstappen did race on the track before 2021, the Briton could be very cautious because finishing behind Max on Red Bull’s good days didn’t really impact his title chances.
But playing it safe for so long allowed Max to gain a mental edge, which was crucial when those on-track battles suddenly had the championship on the line.
This was ultimately why the crash at Silverstone happened, it was the first time Lewis had to be more robust against Max and so when he didn’t fully back out, a collision was inevitable when the Red Bull swept into Copse corner from the racing line.
From then on, the battle for supremacy only continued, with Verstappen refusing to give Hamilton an inch to ensure he kept that mental advantage when wheel-to-wheel.
It was also surprising that Lewis himself appeared so surprised by the level that Verstappen pushed him to on track.
As noted, Max’s moves on the track were not anything he hasn’t done before, and we shouldn’t forget that Hamilton is the one who has seven world titles and is hailed as one of the greatest ever, so in any situation, the Red Bull driver really should be the underdog with little to lose.
So in conclusion, yes, Verstappen certainly does push the limits in a bid to assert himself over other drivers, much like Hamilton’s hero Ayrton Senna used to.
But Lewis also needs to toughen up because, with Charles Leclerc, George Russell and the rest of the next generation hopefully about to challenge him for wins and championships in the coming years, it isn’t going to get any easier anytime soon.
