Verstappen should “draw inspiration” from Hamilton in his driving, according to Davidson

Verstappen remained furious with George Russell, the Mercedes driver, after the two collided during the sprint race on Saturday in Baku. Russell managed to make his way through and take the position from the Dutchman, after they were side by side in the first three corners.

The reigning world champion was able to pass the Mercedes again quite quickly, but he raced the remainder of the sprint with a hole in his sidepod. These damages didn’t allow him to maximize the performance of his RB19 and added some work for his Red Bull mechanics before the race.

The last thing to improve

Verstappen maintained that Russell was at fault in this incident, during which both drivers made contact at turn 2. But considering the speed of the car that the Dutchman has, former Formula 1 driver Anthony Davidson thinks he didn’t need to challenge Russell as aggressively as he did in the early corners. Max now has the car he has, the dominant team, Red Bull. He spent many years in a car that wasn’t the dominant car.

During Mercedes’ domination between 2014 and 2020, Verstappen did not have the fastest car. He would then engage in dangerous maneuvers because it was his only chance to get ahead of the Mercedes and try to hold them back – the only real chance he had to win the race, explains Davidson. Given the inherent advantage in terms of pace that Red Bull has today, he has encouraged Verstappen to follow the example set by Hamilton in his most dominant cars in the future, as the Red Bull driver no longer needs to take a position at any cost. This is the last thing he needs to improve, which in itself is quite concerning considering the success he has already achieved.

Hamilton had a more calculated driving

Verstappen’s aggressiveness behind the wheel is not new. Since his debut in Formula 1, the Dutch driver has often stood out for his daring defenses, such as against Kimi Räikkönen at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix or during the start in Singapore in 2017. This attitude has also caused friction with his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, as evidenced by their contact in Hungary in 2017, which led to Ricciardo flipping him off in retaliation for his retirement.

But it still seems to drive sometimes with the same approach today. « It was in the Sprint race where we saw these scenes with him and George Russell, and he said: “Listen, if you drive like that, if you send the car inside, then expect me to do it back in the future. »

An attitude that contrasts with the one that Lewis Hamilton could adopt: When Lewis was in the dominant car, he would give up a position on the track to take it back later, because he had the car to do so, says the former Toro Rosso driver. Lewis always saw the situation as a whole, played the long game, and I think that’s the only thing Max can work on for the future because there was no need to fight George as hard as he did in that turn at the beginning of the sprint race.

The 2014 WEC endurance world champion hopes that Verstappen will understand that with the car and the advantage he has over the competition this year, his main rival will be Sergio Perez. Let’s see this Sunday in Miami (departure at 9:30 pm) if the message has been heard.