Lewis Hamilton discusses about F1 title chase and what could happen as Max Verstappen chips in his mindset plus team orders talk with Sergio Perez.
This weekend sees the F1 circus move to Mexico. With five races left, you could cut the tension with a knife. Mercedes’ Hamilton is chasing title number eight while Red Bull’s Verstappen is looking for title number one and for good measure a spoiler of sorts with his teammate Perez racing at home.
What he would give for a home win but his is of course a support role for Verstappen at a crucial juncture of the year. A good clean and honest fight is what everyone wants and may the best win. As for Perez, his scenario is slightly different. The Mexican will have a task in hand if the situation arises, where Red Bull has to play a big role too.
As for Hamilton and Verstappen, both are looking at their championship quest in different ways. The former talks from experience and also adds about a possible collision between the two, which his team boss Toto Wolff reckons could happen. As for the latter, he is showing his calmness without thinking too much of what could happen.
Lewis Hamilton:
How he sees the battle and general comments/language –
Hamilton: “I’ve been here for a long time, it’s not my first rodeo. I think at the core of everything, there has to be respect. When I think about, and I hear the things that come out of drivers’ mouths, I do think there are kids watching us, and they’re looking to us for inspiration and for guidance. There has been a lot of things that have been said, which is definitely not good for young kids that are watching. For me, I’m just trying to remain positive and keep calm, and again, just be respectful to the drivers that I am fighting.
“If I have a name in my head of what I think they are, I don’t share that. But it’s pretty easy for me. You laugh it off, and you move forwards. I have been here a long time, I learned a lot in my time. And also, I know, Max has not won a championship in a long, long time. So I know what it’s like going for your first championship, particularly in the sport, I know the pressures that come with that, and so it’s nothing less than I expected from him.
“He’s still a youngster, and he’s going to be growing a huge amount over the next decade, which I think everyone will be excited to see. I just try and if I can, lead by example. Because as I said, I know that I have a lot of youngsters particularly that are racing, that are looking at what I do and what I say. And that’s important for me.”
Wolff’s comments –
Hamilton: “I haven’t read what Toto has said, but I highly doubt that he would insinuate that would ever be the case. We’ve never won a championship in that way. I have never won a championship in that way, and we’d never want to. So that’s from my perspective and my point of view. I’m here to win in the right way, and that’s through sheer skill and determination and hard work.
“You know how I’ve won my championships in the past, I always want to win it the right way. If you’re going to lose it, you lose it the right way also, with dignity and and knowing that you’ve given it your all and you’ve done things the right way and you worked as hard as you could. All you can do is give it your all and work as hard as you can with the team. If it doesn’t work out, then you live to fight another day.”
Max Verstappen:
His mindset and approach –
Verstappen: “My approach will be the same as the whole year, I always try to score the most available points out there, I always have, like Lewis does, like everyone else does. Of course you always try to keep it clean. I just focus on what I have to do on-track, of course, and that’s to try and do the best I can. That’s how, at the end of the day you’re going to win the championship, to try and get the most available points out there and of course beat your rival.
“I like what I’m doing so that takes the pressure off. It’s not the first time I’ve been in a championship fight. Yes, it’s the first time in Formula 1 but not in my life. So at the end of the day that doesn’t really change because you need to win and that’s what I have been doing in the past as well so I need to try to do the same here. When the car is capable to win I’ll win. When the car is not capable of winning I won’t win.”
Sergio Perez:
Possible team orders –
Perez: “I don’t see much point in discussing that now, I think probably we will see where we are on Saturday and if it’s worthwhile having that conversation. Right now, there’s no guarantee that we’re going to be in that position. I think it will be a great problem to have as a team. But right now, we haven’t discussed anything. I’m pretty sure that the whole team, Red Bull, everyone wants me to win this weekend. I think everyone is so enthusiastic, everyone at my team, the crowd. You know, it’s a very special venue for us. And yeah, it’s a very intense fight.”
Amid the discussions of team orders, former Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel weighed in and add their views too. While the former felt he wouldn’t give up home win, the latter was more that Red Bull shouldn’t make it too tough for the Mexican.
Vettel: “I’m not a fan of team orders. There’s two different team orders: there’s the team order that you give way and you get it back in the same race, if you are on different strategies. And then there’s obviously the team order where clearly one has to sort of get out of the way to make the other one score more points. Even if maybe the situation is logically very easy to explain, I still think it’s bad and I will be in favour of not having any team orders ever.
“Yeah, I think it’s just that nobody likes it. If Checo happens to be ahead, then Checo should stay ahead. And if he’s not ahead, he has to be overtaken by whoever, whether that’s a Mercedes or a Red Bull. I can also see if that’s not happening and he will have to let Max by, but Valtteri has been in that position, and it’s not nice.”
Ricciardo: “Well, look, right now my answer is no, I would not. If it was the last race of the season and that position swap literally meant the world title or not, then maybe that is a more complex decision-making process. But a home win, that is the thing you dream of as a kid and if you have earned it on track then yeah, I feel like it should be yours for the taking.”
The story was written by Neil Farrell
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