Lewis Hamilton has had an awful lot on his plate over the last few weeks amidst the impending end of contract and the desperate attempt to sign a new one. Mercedes looked equally enthusiastic in retaining the seven-time world champion, and why wouldn’t they? The Briton has inarguably been the Brackley outfit’s best driver so far, despite the team signing the likes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg over their decade-long tenure.
However, now that the heavyweight has finally been lifted off Hamilton’s head, the record-equaling world champion has come out with an unexpected attack on arch-rival, Max Verstappen, and his seemingly ‘blown up’ reign in the sport. Verstappen is currently embracing the most dominant spell of his entire motorsport career, effortlessly defeating legendary world champions, including Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
Furthermore, the Dutchman has hardly shown his weaknesses this year, subsequently proving himself to be the most resilient driver on the grid with one sole target; win anything and everything. Unfortunately, this particular topic [of Verstappen’s active F1 reign] has rather unsurprisingly triggered Hamilton.
The Knighted British driver was visibly disappointed with the hype the media had been feeding into Verstappen’s undefeated run and further pointed out the hypocrisy.
Lewis Hamilton drops truth bombs on Max Verstappen’s dominant spell
The Mercedes driver was desperately awaiting the media to throw a Max Verstappen question during Thursday’s press conference ahead of the Italian Grand Prix. When asked about the Dutchman’s active reign in Formula 1, Hamilton pointed out that he was pulling off similar performances against then-teammate Bottas, earlier in the 2010s, and yet, the media hardly seemed bothered.
“It’s actually interesting because I was running this morning and I was thinking about this,” Hamilton said according to Sky Sports. “The narrative, that goes through the media… You know when I qualified half a second, six-tenths ahead of Valtteri, they didn’t say the same thing as they say today when Max qualifies six-tenths ahead of Perez – it’s blown up much more.”
Indeed, Hamilton is one of the least supported drivers on the grid despite proving himself to be on the level of the greats Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. And the opinions could take a turn for the better if and when the Mercedes hero accomplishes his long-dreamt eighth world championship title in the coming years. But, the question is, can he? Can Hamilton become the first driver to reach the uncharted territory of Formula 1?
