Lewis Hamilton has cautioned McLaren’s title contenders, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, about Max Verstappen’s “ruthless” nature as the trio enter the last five Grands Prix of the F1 calendar.
Piastri is ahead in the championship by 14 points from his teammate Norris, while Verstappen stands 40 points adrift from first place following strong recent results in the past four races.
The Mercedes veteran, who battled an intense and bitter duel for the crown with his rival Verstappen in 2021, said: “In such a situation it’s difficult, the tension mounts. It is a time when it’s essential to put your blinkers up and shut out everything from the outside.
“You have to be ruthless and that is what Verstappen is, he intends to claim this from the McLaren duo if they don’t adopt the same approach.
“It takes deep resolve to fend off a driver like Verstappen and the car he is in. Additionally for either of them to secure the title, reliability matters most, and we’ve observed this with Verstappen over recent weekends.”
The experienced champion explained that Verstappen had the easiest job as the driver chasing the leaders. He found himself 104 points adrift from the lead after the Zandvoort race last month.
“There are three highly skilled competitors and I can't predict how they will perform,” added Hamilton.
“Max is a champion on four occasions so he knows the experience and occupying the pursuing role is far simpler than holding the lead.
“If you are leading and a rival is closing in, that affects you mentally instead of if you're chasing and there’s no pressure. As the championship leader the stakes are high.”
George Russell, victorious in the Singapore Grand Prix in the previous rounds, remarked: “The McLaren guys are in the leading car so they control their destiny. However, Verstappen and Red Bull are performing a superb effort so they cannot be ruled out.
“They showed signs of strong speed early in the season but their form varied, whereas now consistently they are excelling.”
Fair Competition at the McLaren Team
The teammates approach the season’s end with no team orders against one another and without team restrictions in place – except for steering clear of incidents between them.
Norris was previously under undefined “repercussions” post-incident with Piastri as he overtook for third place from him on the opening lap in the Singapore GP.
Following the crash between the two at the start of the sprint at Austin recently, the team has lifted these.
“There is a degree of responsibility from my side in that event and we are opening this round with no past issues for the pair, just going out and competing,” commented the Australian.
The Australian, victorious at the Dutch GP, has seen his points margin decrease after being beaten by Norris in the last four events, but he admitted it surprised him Verstappen had joined the fight so swiftly.
“The performance Verstappen has shown since Monza has surprised many,” said Piastri.
“There were flashes earlier in the season but additionally significant drops. Everyone is aware Red Bull has been applying various improvements on the RB19 aiming to enhance performance but Verstappen has arrived the contest quicker than I expected.”
However, when questioned whether he was worried regarding Max, he replied: “This isn’t a focus for me. Max has been steady and competitive lately but it offers no advantage in focusing on or thinking about that.
“The key to me win the championship is extract the maximum out of myself, the car, the squad. Verstappen is there, he’s contending but finally it has no effect on the way I handle competition.”
Lando continued: “Max has had strong performances recently. They have been performing a higher level than McLaren.
“Verstappen has secured multiple Grands Prix and he is a champion. One would be foolish to not consider Max a threat.
“At the minute, Red Bull is performing stronger, in many events they had more pace. However, opportunities remain. McLaren possesses the quicker machine for the remaining races and we need to capitalize on that.”
Max commented: “Certainly we had a good run, definitely been enjoying this period in this way and we intend to continue this streak forward. We know we must perform flawlessly through the final races to stand a chance, but we simply aim to optimize every aspect and find our position.”
Team Tactics ‘Pretty Funny’
Red Bull were penalized 50,000 euros post the American GP, because one of their team members was present on the starting grid past the allowed time because he was trying to clear the adhesive used by McLaren in the garage area to assist Lando park his car in the right place.
Norris remarked he considered the incident “very amusing, especially because I didn't even use the tape, which added to the humor”.
He stated: “It was there for back up. I didn't need to use it at the race. We were aware about their actions. {They tried to take tape off
