Max Verstappen ‘carrying anger’ towards Lewis Hamilton in F1 title race

The pair have crashed twice this season in the battle for the F1 title

Sarah Rendell
Monday 20 September 2021 10:21 BST
Comments
Verstappen has been involved in two crashes with Hamilton this season
Verstappen has been involved in two crashes with Hamilton this season (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Max Verstappen is ‘carrying anger’ towards Formula 1 title race rival Lewis Hamilton, according to McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo, who won the Italian Grand Prix to give McLaren their first win since 2012, says his former teammate is still harbouring frustration from the crash at Silverstone.

The collision saw Verstappen go to hospital and Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty as he was judged to be at fault in the crash. The pair crashed for a second time this season at Monza with the Dutchman given a three-place grid penalty at the Russian Grand Prix for his involvement.

“That’s him [Verstappen], he is a competitor, he’ll leave it on the track and that’s it,” Ricciardo told the Pardon My Take podcast. “I guess he still maybe was carrying a bit of anger or a little bit of frustration from Silverstone.

“Maybe that’s why he just said ‘stuff this’ and walked away. I saw him go over his head but then stopped a bit more forward.

“I think there were things where Lewis was trying to reverse and get out, look I’ve probably already got too involved but maybe Max saw that and thought, ‘okay Lewis is fine,’ but I don’t know.”

Verstappen was seen walking away from the crash at Monza instead of checking on Hamilton but Ricciardo says if the 23-year-old knew the Brit was hurt he would’ve helped him.

He added: “If we go through an accident and we know the other driver was injured, I’m one hundred percent sure we would all try to help, we wouldn’t just turn our backs.

“I don’t think what Max did was stupid, he saw an opportunity and went for it, but it was obviously not the best [manoeuvre].”

Verstappen currently holds a five-point lead on Hamilton in the F1 title race and they will battle once again at the Russian Grand Prix on 26 September.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in