Battle with Max Verstappen similar to battle with Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari: Lewis Hamilton


Battle with Max Verstappen similar to battle with Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari: Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton is chasing his eighth drivers championship this season, but he has been placed under extreme pressure by Max Verstappen. The Briton recently signed a two year contract extension at Mercedes which binds him at Silver Arrows till 2023. Currently, as things stand, Max Verstappen leads the championship by 32 points, as the Dutch driver secured three consecutive wins.

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Lewis Hamilton believes that it is better to have an opponent in a different team, rather than have an internal battle. He believes that it stands true for every sport. He feels that when two drivers from different teams compete against each other, it makes the championship more exciting.

When you’re having an internal battle, because this sport is different to other sports…if you look at football, everyone is working towards the same goal,” said Lewis.

“This sport is kind of confused because you have two championships – a team championship, with two drivers hired to score points for the team to win the championship, that’s the priority. Then individually, you have the two drivers that selfishly want to win the championship,” he added.

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“So you’ve got this battle of tension and when you’re working against a guy opposite you, it’s much different to working with that person and fighting another team. I feel that makes better racing, that makes the championship more exciting when it’s team against team rather than internal,” the Briton continued.

Lewis Hamilton looks forward to a battle with Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton believes that his battle with Max Verstappen this season is quite similar to his battle with Sebastian Vettel in 2018. Vettel lead the championship in 2018 by eight points prior to the British GP.

However, the Briton did concede that Red Bull are a better team at the moment, as they have an extra yard of pace.

“If I’m honest, it feels very similar to what we had with Vettel at Ferrari, it’s even closer than that. When you’re growing up and you’re in karting you have these wheel-to-wheel battles every weekend. It’s great that we are having these close, tight-knit battles,said Lewis.

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“Those guys [Red Bull] are a little bit ahead at the moment and so we have a massive challenge to try and just make sure we maximum capitalise on any of their weak moments, if they ever have any, and really just try to extract the best of each and every one of us in the team,” he added.

Also Read: Formula 1 2022 cars: Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and co. react to new look