Max Verstappen takes “cheeky” dig at Mercedes after lapping Lewis Hamilton
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Lewis and Max
Max Verstappen after winning the Imola Grand Prix has talked about the moment when he lapped Lewis Hamilton during yesterday’s Grand Prix.
After the race, Verstappen indicated that he was not surprised by overtaking Hamilton as he believes the Brackley-based team has been off the pace throughout the 2022 F1 season.
During the race, Lewis Hamilton was stuck in a DRS train and was not able to make up any places, while Hamilton was getting dragged in the DSR train behind Gasly, Verstappen after lapping other cars was on the tail of Hamilton and the Brit was asked to let Verstappen by under “blue flags” condition.
This was a painful moment for Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes Formula One team. The overtake by Verstappen must have hurt given they were fighting with Red Bull for the Championship last season.
Verstappen while talking about overtaking Hamilton under Blue Flags said, “They have been slow all year so it is not really a surprise or [I don’t feel] happy lapping Lewis compared to anyone else.”
Max Verstappen on the clutch issue that arose during Imola Sprint
Max Verstappen after the Imola GP was able to come away with the maximum points that he could have hoped for from the race weekend and after yesterday is now only 27 points behind Championship leader Charles Leclerc.
During Saturday’s Sprint race Verstappen was slow to start off the line as compared to others and after the Imola Grand Prix was asked if the issue was fixed ahead of the race.
While giving details about the peculiar incident Verstappen said, “There were no fixes to the clutch, it was just we had a poor execution of procedures.”
“We did a better job [in the race]. There is still room for improvement.”
“In the wet, it is a bit hit and miss. Last year I had an amazing start here but in the wet, these things are a bit more difficult to nail.”
Verstappen has insisted that the wet weather conditions during the Sprint caused the issue for him and during the start of the main GP he was able to execute everything properly.
Chares Leclerc is now in catching distance of Max Verstappen and it is going to be fascinating to see how well the Dutchman is going to perform in Miami in a couple of weeks’ time.
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)