Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s rivalry is up there with the greatest rivalries of all time in F1’s history. Verstappen was the aggressor during the 2021 season and had nothing to lose whereas Hamilton had everything to lose with his 8th championship on the line. Nonetheless, Max Verstappen’s spiteful shenanigans against the Briton at the Hungarian GP were highlighted by Hamilton’s former nemesis. What were these shenanigans?

Max Verstappen, ever since his first championship seems to have put the aggressive side of his to rest. The Dutchman with the dominant RB19 doesn’t need to be as aggressive as he was back in 2021. Yet we saw glimpses of the rivalry at last weekend’s Hungarian GP. Nico Rosberg, who himself had a fierce rivalry with Lewis Hamilton lashed out at Max Verstappen’s shenanigans. 

Lewis Hamilton, who qualified on pole by beating Max Verstappen, was in the prime position to lead into turn 1. However, a bad start meant that the Dutchman went on his inside and took the lead. However, Lewis Hamilton’s former Nemesis, Nico Rosberg suggests that Max Verstappen didn’t take the apex of the corner and intentionally ran Lewis Hamilton wide so as to make sure that the Briton doesn’t come back on him.

According to the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Nico Rosberg said “There was a wheel-to-wheel battle going into turn 1 because Max purposely ran Lewis out wide. He didn’t even try to get the apex. So there was a bit of a battle there but Lewis couldn’t do anything on the outside once he decided to go on the outside of Verstappen. So Lewis should’ve probably backed out of it and tried to tuck in behind.”

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Despite having the fastest and most dominant car, Verstappen made sure that Hamilton ran wide off the line. We’ve seen Max Verstappen being very calm and taking precautions while overtaking this season as he knows this time around, he’s the one who has everything to lose. Then why did he run Lewis Hamilton wide? Let’s see what Verstappen’s thoughts about his race start.

Max Verstappen on his race start at the Hungarian GP

Max Verstappen had a pretty dismal start at this year’s British GP where Lando Norris overtook even before getting to the first corner. Nonetheless, having the race pace, Verstappen passed Norris within a handful of laps. However, Verstappen couldn’t afford to do the same in Hungary. The Dutchman did get an amazing start, took the inside, and vanished into thin air after a couple of laps.

According to Motorsport.com, Max Verstappen said “I think as soon as I released the clutch, it was immediately like, I felt like I had no wheel spin like I had at Silverstone. I got a good run. Then I knew of course I had the inside, so I knew that was going to be my corner in turn one, we braked quite late. But then I just did my thing through Turn 2 as well. And from there I could just build up the pace slowly.”

What did you think of Nico Rosberg’s interpretation of Max Verstappen pushing Lewis Hamilton wide?

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