Lewis Hamilton — © Mercedes F1 team
After the GP of Saudi Arabia, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was unhappy about several incidents with Max Verstappen. During the race Hamilton shouted that Verstappen is crazy and after the race Hamilton was also unhappy about Verstappen’s ‘games’.
“Verstappen clearly went over the limit. He doesn’t care if we both finish or not. For me it’s important that we finish,” Hamilton said after the race. “I’ve avoided collisions with him so many times.”
“Today I tried to talk on the track, I tried to keep my car within the lines and do it the right way. I really had to try to stay calm, which was very difficult.”
Hamilton was also unhappy about the ‘braking incident’ with Verstappen in which he eventually drove into the back of Verstappen and he shouted over the on-board radio “That guy is crazy!”.
“Obviously he did a brake test with me to try and get back into the DRS in the last corner and then overtake me again in the first corner,” said Hamilton. “I thought I had lost my front wing!”
“I didn’t understand why he suddenly braked fairly hard and then I ran into him. There were so many crazy things.”
“I was not informed so I did not understand what was going on. Suddenly he started to brake and moved a bit. I thought he was trying to play silly games. I do not know.”
Verstappen was penalized by the stewards after the race for the braking incident in question with a time penalty of ten seconds. However, that did not change the result. Verstappen remained second in the race result.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton therefore have the same number of points with only one race to go. The only time before that two drivers made it to the season finale with the same number of points happened in 1974.
Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren) and Swiss Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) then battled for the title in the very last race of the season. Fittipaldi then took his second world title in Formula 1 with a fourth place.
More F1 news:– Max Verstappen after incident-rich race: “Formula 1 is more about penalties than racing”– “Belgium GP not sure of place on F1 calendar 2022”– VIDEO: Lewis Hamilton runs into Max Verstappen at the back– F1 champion saying goodbye: “I’m not going to set my alarm clock to see F1 races”– “An eighth world title does not make Lewis Hamilton bigger than Michael Schumacher”
(F1journaal.be)
.