“Kind of Do-Or-Die”: Lewis Hamilton Holds Nothing Back While Narrating the Experience of Racing the Infamous “Mad Max” Verstappen

2022 has been the year of Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Despite starting the season on a weaker note, the Dutch Lion won the championship with 4 races to spare. A car with superior pace coupled with Max’s dogged approach to racing delivered the constructors’ championship for the team as well.

Red Bull and Max Verstappen have together become a force to reckon with. While Verstappen put a dent in Mercedes’ armor by winning the drivers’ championship last year, they have completely halted their juggernaut in the current season. But Red Bull’s golden boy’s driving approach has a duality to it, depending on which side of the fence you are on.

Christian Horner and Lewis Hamilton present a completely different perspective on Max Verstappen’s racing style

GQ recently did a story on their Athlete of the Year, Max Verstappen. The Flying Dutch talked about his rise to the top and how his upbringing is unduly scrutinized, among other things. He also talked about deriving inspiration from other sports personalities like NBA legend Michael Jordan.

The article also had Red Bull team principal Christian Horner’s opinion on his champion driver’s racing style. Horner said, “Max’s best form of defense is attack”.

The opinion vastly differed from how Lewis Hamilton perceived his rival’s driving style. Hamilton explained, “Max is kind of do-or-die. It’s like you’re either crashing or you’re not going by.” Lewis added, “I think he pushes it to the limit and probably beyond.”

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You cannot argue with the 7-time world champion’s logic as he was recently on the receiving end of Verstappen’s hard racing style. In the Brazilian GP, while trying to overtake the Mercedes man, Max lunged aggressively and hit the side of Lewis’ W13. The move turned out to be counter-productive as Verstappen had front wing damage and got a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Max Verstappen defies team orders by not letting teammate pass

Sergio Perez in the past two years has played the ultimate teammate role for Max’s success. The same was expected from Max when the situation presented itself. The situation did present itself at the Brazilian GP, but a simple sacrifice was too much to ask from Verstappen. The team ordered him to let Sergio Perez pass if he himself could not pass Fernando Alonso.

While Max could not pass Alonso, he also denied Perez the opportunity to pass and stay in 2nd in the drivers’ standings.

When asked why he did not follow the team orders on the team radio, he replied, “I told you already last time, guys. Don’t ask that again to me, okay? Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons, and I stand by it.”

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Was Verstappen referring to the Q3 incident in Monaco where Checo’s crash denied him the opportunity to take the pole? Or is there something else brewing behind the scenes at the Milton-Keynes-based team that we aren’t aware of?