Disobedient Lewis Hamilton Was Caught in a Similar Ego-Race as Max Verstappen, but He Had His Reasons: “I Am Hired to Be Me”

Rivalry and competition are a big part of F1, especially among two drivers from the same team. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s incident in Brazil was the most recent instance of the same. However, Lewis Hamilton once had a similar brawl with his own teammate back in the day.

Sergio Perez lost out on the P2 finish in the driver’s championship by 3 points. The Mexican could have finished P2 and bagged Red Bull’s first-ever 1-2. However, Max Verstappen not giving his position to his teammate in both the sprint and the main race in Interlagos meant Charles Leclerc narrowly secured P2 in WDC.

But this isn’t the first time a world champion has collided with his teammate in F1. Lewis Hamilton once went head-to-head with his teammate Nico Rosberg, defying team orders in Hungary, in 2014.

“It is not questioning authority. I am hired to be me, and race my heart out,” said Hamilton.

He further replied, “I did not cost Nico a win, I was racing against him! Why would I be concerned for him? I don’t think I was being ruthless, I was not even being bloody-minded.”

He continued, “I was doing my job. I tried my hardest to be ahead and I don’t feel as though I was obligated to help.”

As the drivers finished P3 and P4, the headline in the major German daily Welt claimed Mercedes to be a victim of “Hamilton’s ego-show”.

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Hamilton went on to win the title that year, with Nico Rosberg finishing behind his teammate to secure a Mercedes 1-2.

Mercedes careful about Lewis Hamilton after Ferrari’s handling of the Michael Schumacher situation

Toto Wolff has been one of the greatest leaders in Formula 1. He led Mercedes to 8 consecutive constructors titles before Red Bull finally dethroned them from the top this year. Part of being a good leader is sensing danger before it arrives. The Austrian stated that he is wary of a potential Michael Schumacher-esque situation with Lewis Hamilton.

Toto Wolff said, “Of course we are talking about it. We are analyzing: ‘What are the reasons the teams that dominated in the past suddenly lost performance?’ You can see with Ferrari, they lost the whole top leadership and a key driver.”

The Austrian added, “I think that’s something you can trace back. With Red Bull, it was a fundamental situation that the power unit regulation changed upside down. So fundamental parameters changed. We are looking at that and thinking: ‘We had better be careful’.”

Mercedes and Hamilton haven’t had the best of seasons this year. Lewis Hamilton’s long-standing record of winning a race each season came to an end. Moreover, Mercedes only won 1 race all season, with George Russell winning in Interlagos. However, this hasn’t forced Hamilton to hang his helmet.

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Hamilton and Mercedes will be hoping to fight for the championships next season. Can they beat rivals, Red Bull and Ferrari?