Verstappen and Hamilton, 10 world championships between them
There's no doubt about that Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have and are marking an era in Formula 1. The respective exponents of the Mercedes and Red Bull dominance have in fact shared practically all the world championship crowns from 2014 to 2023, with the only exception represented by the intruder Nico Rosberg – who triumphed with the Mercedes in 2016.
The handover between Hamilton and Verstappen in 2021 was particularly harsh, with the two establishing an all-out battle that only ended on the last lap of the world championship epilogue in Abu Dhabi. The race then went down in history also due to the enormous controversy that arose against the management of the Safety Car by the then Race Director, Michael Masi.
Max holds out his hand to Lewis
A further statistic makes it even clearer how the two champions are marking an era: Verstappen and Hamilton are the couple who occupied together the first and second step of the podium the greatest number of timesin good 36 occasions. The pairing of Senna and Prost, for example, is only in fifth position, with the Brazilian and the Frenchman in the top two in 23 grands prix.
During an interview granted to Sunday TimesVerstappen wanted to tone down any controversy with his opponent, underlining of have no personal grudge against Hamilton: “I don't need this kind of exasperated rivalry. Of course, we want to beat each other, but honestly, once we're away from the track, it's like we're normal kids.”underlined the Red Bull champion.
#Verstappen #Hamilton #don39t #exasperated #rivalries