Mercedes' Hamilton and Red Bull's Verstappen will be renewing their rivalry at the 2022 F1 Championships.
Follow Us
Seven-time F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton missed out on his record-title in the previous season as Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing won the season after his victory at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021. The top-two racers in 2021 were tied at 369.5 each before the race with Verstappen taking the pole position to become the first ever Dutchman to win the title.
However, the Englishman took the defeat as a sport, and mentioned that there is no animosity between him and Verstappen. He, in fact, highlighted that they have a lot of things in common which includes being ruthless in their approach throughout the season.
“Me and Max, we see each other in the paddock, and things are normal,” Lewis told Naomi Schiff in an interview for Sky Sports. “We’re two individual drivers.
“We have a lot of common in a sense of how much we love doing what we do and driving, then on the other side we’re ruthless. He is ruthless, I am.
“That’s what you have to be in, I would imagine business, but hopefully with a bit of compassion.
“We are fighters out there, there’s no friends on track. It’s like when you go skiing, there’s no friends out there.”
READ MORE: ‘Lewis Hamilton wants to destroy Max Verstappen’: ex-driver makes bold claim
The 2021 F1 Championships saw Hamilton and Verstappen crash three times — in Silverstone, Monza and Saudi Arabia — apart from many other controversies emerging from the season.
However, Hamilton, downplayed the consequences that occurred in the season and said it is important to have respect for one another no matter what goes wrong during their rivalry.
“Some days we get it right, sometimes we get it wrong,” Hamilton said.
“But I think what’s really important is that we’re human beings and that we do keep respect.”
The Englishman, who is willing to help his constructor extend their title-run from 2014 on his new W13 car, mentioned that he doesn’t take the opinions and trolling of the fans seriously and likes to steer clear from negativity.
“Of course there’s so many nice comments and then there’s trolling, all these different things that people experience,” said Hamilton.
“If I had sat and read all the comments after Silverstone – the racial abuse – I could have downward spiralled to a negative place.
“I just don’t let that volatile medium control my life. You’ve got to be careful because obviously the way the media try to hype up the drama also creates a narrative for fans.”
