The best of enemies: Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton has declined the opportunity to be drawn on whether Max Verstappen’s aggressive racing with Lando Norris in F1 2024 is reminiscent of his own battles with the Red Bull driver in 2021.
It comes after Hamilton admitted he instinctively “knew” that Verstappen was at the centre of controversy at last weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix when he saw a “plume of dust” up ahead on track.
Lewis Hamilton on Max Verstappen: ‘That’s for you to decide’
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock
Verstappen, the reigning three-time World Champion, was hit with two separate 10-second penalties for incidents with McLaren driver Norris during Sunday’s race in Mexico City, with the Red Bull driver’s conduct in wheel-to-wheel battle coming under scrutiny.
The first incident on Lap 10 saw Verstappen edge Norris off the circuit as the McLaren driver tried to pass him around the outside of Turn 4.
The second came just a few corners later, when Verstappen launched an aggressive move down Norris’s inside at the fast Turn 7, with both drivers taking to the run-off area and the Red Bull rejoining ahead.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton: The best of enemies
Verstappen was forced to sit stationary for 20 seconds during his pit stop and ultimately came home sixth, his joint-worst classified result of the F1 2024 season.
Norris, meanwhile, finished second to the race-winning Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, reducing Verstappen’s World Championship lead to 47 points with four rounds remaining.
Hamilton, who came home fourth after prevailing in a battle with Mercedes team-mate George Russell, was embroiled in a series of on-track clashes with Verstappen over the course of their intense F1 2021 title battle.
That season saw the pair collide dramatically on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, an incident which resulted in Verstappen being taken to hospital for precautionary checks, before they came to blows later that season at Monza, where Verstappen’s car ended up mounting Hamilton’s Mercedes following a touch at the first chicane.
Verstappen’s driving was also criticised at the late-season rounds in Brazil, where he was accused of running Hamilton off the road, and Saudi Arabia, where he was found by the FIA stewards to have “braked suddenly and significantly” while duelling over the lead with the Mercedes driver.
Verstappen was ultimately crowned World Champion for the first time in highly controversial circumstances at the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi, with Hamilton suffering two consecutive winless years before returning to the top step of the podium at his home race in July.
Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after Sunday’s race in Mexico, Hamilton conceded that he had not yet seen the clashes between Verstappen and Norris on Lap 10.
