Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are involved in a controversial situation once again. In the last race, the two championship rivals collided with each other in Silverstone. And now in Budapest, Hamilton and Verstappen were involved in a battle of mind games.
In Q3, Lewis put in a scorching lap to take provisional pole from Max, who was back in third. During the out-lap of their final runs in qualifying, Hamilton slowed down purposely, which meant that Max did not have tires in the best condition.
WATCH STORY: F1 Drivers Fighting on Track
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If that was made on purpose, it’s not pretty: Romain Grosjean
Former F1 driver Romain Grosjean took to Twitter to express his views on the incident. Grosjean was as surprised by the situation as the fans in the grandstand.
If that was made on purpose, it’s not pretty…#f1 #HungarianGP
— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) July 31, 2021
Grosjean said,” If that was made on purpose, it’s not pretty.”
Hamilton responded to Grosjean’s tweet by saying, “I don’t make any tactical plays. We have the fastest car. Those who give comments like that have no idea what’s going on. Which also explains why they are not here.”
“We couldn’t do the same time as Lewis on the medium, so we took a different route. It was a bit of gamesmanship, Lewis had a hell of a lap in the bank and it was his right to do that, he had track position,” said Christian Horner.
Read more: Why Do Mercedes Dominate F1?
Lewis Hamilton takes pole at the Hungarian Grand Prix
As reported by Formula1, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took his 8th pole at the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas. The German team have successfully locked out the front row in Budapest.
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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified P3 ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez to lock out the second row.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly impressed again with a strong P5 ahead of Lando Norris. Ferrari of Charles Leclerc finished P7 ahead of the Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel rounded off the top ten.
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Well, the Hamilton-Verstappen rivalry is certainly heating up with each race, and only time will tell if it will turn out to be an ugly one.
Do you think Lewis purposely ruined Max’s lap? Let us know.