Max Verstappen Takes a Dig at Lewis Hamilton’s Teammates

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took a dig at Lewis Hamilton and by extension, all his teammates over the years. The Dutchman suggested that Hamilton has rarely been pressurised by a teammate throughout his Formula One career.

Both Verstappen and Hamilton were the protagonists of a classic battle in Hungary. The two duelled for almost the entirety of the race before Hamilton finally struck with four laps left. Such was the intensity that the two were on another level, and a minute ahead of the competition.

However, speaking about Hamilton, Max Verstappen suggested that the 5-time World Champion never faced a proper challenge by a teammate.

“It’s car-dependent,” the 21-year-old admitted to Motor Sport Magazine. “I don’t think he’s had the pressure of a teammate over the years.”

During his Mercedes tenure, Hamilton has been partnered with Nico Rosberg and later on, Valtteri Bottas. The former only beat Hamilton to the championship once in 2016, in his 4th time of asking. Then, the German stunned everyone when he immediately retired from the sport. However, Verstappen thinks that the 2016 title should have gone to Hamilton as well.

He continued, “He should really have won it in 2016 as well if it wasn’t for the engine failure… but after the summer break there were a few poor starts and stuff where he lost first place. But he never really had big pressure from his teammates.”

However, contrary to Verstappen’s opinion, Hamilton has gone up against the likes of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button at McLaren All this was prior to his partnership with Rosberg. If Max Verstappen was referring to recent year, then certainly, Hamilton has been dominant. On the other end of the spectrum, Lewis Hamilton was thrown into the deep end in his rookie season when he was partnered by Fernando Alonso. Jenson Button also has an impeccable record of having beaten most of his teammates, including Hamilton on two occasions