JUST IN:Max Verstappen has already proven Lewis Hamilton’s… him correct…Read more
- Max Verstappen has already proven Lewis Hamilton’s accusation about him correct
Max Verstappen has validated Lewis Hamilton’s critique of him following the Hungarian Grand Prix last month.
The tension between McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri highlighted the issue when Norris, initially in second place, pitted for fresh medium tires on lap 45, thus taking the lead from Piastri, who pitted two laps later.
The McLaren team ordered Norris to return the lead to Piastri, which he was initially hesitant to do due to his competition with Verstappen for the F1 championship.
Norris eventually complied, ensuring a McLaren one-two finish in Hungary. When asked about this scenario before the Belgian GP, Hamilton suggested that Verstappen would not have ceded his position if he were in Norris’s place. Hamilton remarked, “It’s not my call to make.
I mean, if that was Max, he wouldn’t have let him pass.
I don’t know what to say. It’s not for me to decide.”
Hamilton emphasized that in a similar situation, he would follow team orders despite the difficulty because it’s about representing and working with the entire team, not individual glory.
This statement aligns with Verstappen’s past behavior, particularly an incident during the 2022 Brazilian GP where Verstappen disregarded team orders to let his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez through.
The situation involved Verstappen and Perez swapping places earlier in the race to facilitate an overtake on Fernando Alonso, which Verstappen failed to accomplish, leading to a requested position switch back that Verstappen ignored.