Hamilton on Verstappen’s radio irritation: “You have to act like a world champion”
Tensions between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen persist after their collision at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The two drivers expressed differing views on the incident and their behavior during the race.
During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was very aggressive towards his team, launching several insults on the radio… broadcast live on television. A behavior criticized in the media after the race. Questioned in Spa about how a world champion should behave in the face of adversity, Lewis Hamilton also seemed to make a thinly veiled dig at his Dutch rival.
« A champion must be a leader, an example for his team,” said the seven-time world champion to Sky Sports. « Just always remember that you are a teammate with many people and you must act like a world champion.”
When asked to develop this last point, Hamilton replied: « That’s a good question… Not like it was last weekend. »
The Briton also expressed his surprise at the commissioners’ judgement regarding their incident at Hungaroring. “I was very surprised to see that the commissioners suggested that I could have done more to avoid the collision,” he said. “The trackside images are clear: it was Max who lost control of his car and hit me. I was completely off the racing line.”
Verstappen defends his driving style
On his side, Max Verstappen defended his driving on the radio on Thursday, insisting that it was nothing personal against anyone at Red Bull. “People who don’t like my language, don’t listen to it or turn down the volume. I am very motivated to succeed. I have already proven it,” said Max Verstappen.
» I always want to optimize things. People can argue that maybe you shouldn’t be as vocal on the radio, but that’s their opinion.
He added: « We are very open-minded. We are very critical of each other as a team, and it has worked very well for us, so I don’t expect that to change. »
