DON’T you just love the rivalry between Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen?
By the time this column comes out, the Dutch Grand Prix at the CM Circuit Zandvoort will be over and either Hamilton re-takes the lead in the driver’s championship or Verstappen adds to his lead in his home race. Crucial is an understatement.
And the rivalry?
I love it. I think this rivalry that is beyond friendly is what formula 1 racing needs. I enjoyed the sportsmanship between James Hunt and Nikki Lauda as well as the one between Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. They did bring class to the sport.
But I do like the good old fashioned dislike because it adds tension and drama to an even more high stakes race.
With Briton Lewis Hamilton as the most successful driver the sport has seen, no doubt, you will have people not enamored of him and wanting to knock him off his perch as he chases a record-breaking driver of the year award.
I did thrill to his intra-squad rivalry with Fernando Alonso over at McLaren when the Briton was a rookie and things got heated when Hamilton moved over to Mercedes in 2013 with then teammate Nico Rosberg.
The one-upmanship between the two drivers up to 2016 was alone worth the price of admission.
And now, it’s Hamilton versus Verstappen.
To the outsider, one could possibly infer as Hamilton being swell headed as he has butted helmets with many a driver.
I actually look at it like how basketball star Michael Jordan was in the 1990s—he fended off challenges from Earvin Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers, Isaiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons, Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks, Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers, Alonzo Mourning and the Miami Heat, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Phoenix Suns, the Seattle Supersonics, and the Utah Jazz.
Oh, there was dislike between Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and the Pistons, the Knicks, and the Heat.
It’s that way with Hamilton having to fend off challenges from all comers even from within.
We see how Lewis’s Mercedes teammate, Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas also tiring of the attention on Hamilton.
So not only has the Englishman have to fend off his teammate but there’s the hard-charging Verstappen.
The word I would use to describe the rivalry between the two is–escalating.
The incident at Silverstone this past July where Hamilton’s collision with Verstappen knocked the latter out of the race and sent him to the hospital is the tipping point in my opinion. More so since Hamilton won despite a 10-second penalty for taking out Verstappen.
Man, Red Bull was furious after the race.
Verstappen was magnanimous post-race where he said that he was just focused. But Nico Rosberg, retired since 2016, has expressed that he can’t wait to watch the latest chapter between the rivalry between the two. He knows how it feels. Been there. Done that. Now, he’s the viewer.
Adding to personality clash is the off-track battles between Mercedes and Red Bull. It has taken a turn for ugly as the latter is looking to place Alex Albon in a Williams car that uses Mercedes engines. With Red Bull set to begins engine designs by 2022 when their contract with Honda expires, Mercedes is worried that Albon, still under contract to Red Bull could share secrets. Hence, Mercedes’ Toto Wolff going out of his way asking Red Bull to free Albon through the media.
You can’t write this script.