Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were locked in a bitter title fight in the 2021 Formula 1 season; the former won the title.
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Former driver turned expert Anthony Davidson believes Lewis Hamilton will be keen to ‘destroy’ Max Verstappen in the 2022 season.
Verstappen and Hamilton were locked in a bitter title fight in the 2021 Formula 1 season. And the season ended with the former winning the title in controversial circumstances.
The result led to months of radio silence from Hamilton, as well as speculation over his future. But he will be on the grid this year and seems bullish.
Indeed, he told the press to “wait until you see this year” just how good he can be. And that statement did not go unnoticed.
“When Lewis Hamilton comes out with a sentence like that, you have to take notice,” Davidson told Sky Sports F1. “He sure is fired up to win this thing once and for all and I think he’ll be hard to beat.
“He’s certainly coming into this season with a very bullish mentality. There will be nothing more than Lewis wants from this season than to destroy Max Verstappen.
“Let’s not beat around a bush, he feels absolutely robbed as to what happened last year in Abu Dhabi, he wants to come out with a dominant car and he doesn’t even want to see Max on track, I’m sure.
“He just wants to show him a clean pair of heels, disappear off into the distance and win his eighth world championship.”
He wasn’t the only one who noted Hamilton’s change of mentality. Another former F1 driver turned commentator in Karun Chandok believes Abu Dhabi ‘pulled the tail of the tiger’.
The race saw Hamilton lose out despite leading comfortably throughout the race due to a late Safety Car and a controversial one-lap restart.
Also read: Michael Masi ‘bullied’ out of Formula One race control job
“One of two things was going to happen [after Abu Dhabi], either Lewis was going to get disillusioned with the sport, or you’ll pull the tail on the tiger. I suspect we’ve got the latter.”
1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill backed Hamilton to win the title this season. Hill believes Hamilton knows how to deal with Verstappen better in this season. “I think Lewis knows what he’s dealing with with Max,” he said.
“I think Max has shown he’s a hardcore, uncompromising driver and competitor, and Lewis showed last year he’s willing to show the hard side to him, too.”
