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Hamilton: Following Verstappen in Spain helped learn about his driving

Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MAY 09: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda leads Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W12 during the F1 Grand Prix of Spain at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on May 09, 2021 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202105090419 // Usage for editorial use only //

Lewis Hamilton had a good look at Max Verstappen in F1 Spanish GP, especially his driving style and how he uses the car to the maximum.

The technical controversy aside, Mercedes’ Hamilton had a good hard look at his rival Verstappen, driving the Red Bull, from close quarters in F1 Spanish GP. The Dutchman passed in the first corner, with the Brit staying with him all-through.

This period, not only gave Hamilton, a peak into how Red Bull must be using the ‘bendy wings’, but also at Verstappen, as to how he uses his car to extract the maximum. The Brit was quite open about it too, post his victory after a strategic gamble.

“I’m continuing to love this battle we are having,” said Hamilton. “I didn’t know whether we would be able to follow them as closely as we did in the end. Obviously, Turn 1, the start was not ideal and we are going to have to review it and see how we can do better in the future. But as soon as we got passed in Turn 1, I was like, ‘OK, switch into a different mode’. It was actually a really good day.

“I learned a lot about Max, perhaps more than all the other races put together. When you are with people on track you get to see different things and watch closely and obviously I was following relatively closely and I learned a lot about his car and how he uses it, so it was a good race in that respect,” summed up Hamilton, who came through the field after falling over 20s behind Verstappen, using a two-stop strategy.

Here’s the whole saga on Red Bull bendy wings including quotes

Here’s Lewis Hamilton on not knowing what Valtteri Bottas was told

Here’s Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen on strategic display

Here’s what Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen said about Turn 1 fight