Lewis Hamilton Retaliates Against Max Verstappen’s Aggressive Racing Tactics As the 7x World Champion Breaks Character To Reveal His New Avatar: “Fight Fire With Fire”

The 2021 F1 season was all about Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Either one of them would win the race or will collide against each other on track. This was pretty regular for them last year. However, when they collided again at the Brazilian GP this year, fans got a flashback from last season, and it was only natural.

As the Red Bull and Mercedes star drivers collided this past Sunday, Verstappen stated in a post-race conference that Hamilton didn’t leave him space. So this meant the collision was inevitable as there was little room for both cars to make it to the next turn side by side.

Talking about this, Martin Brundle in his race review for Sky Sports wrote, “Being that far alongside Lewis and on the inside, Max was entitled to some racing room.”

“I have no doubt that Max has a different set of limits when in combat with Lewis, and Lewis has similarly decided to fight fire with fire. And so inevitably they hit but continued.”

The reason this is a bit hard to digest is that Hamilton, in his illustrious career, has created an image of being a calm and composed driver. And now, him resorting to fighting ‘fire with fire’ seems a bit uncharacteristic.

READ MORE: Max Verstappen Blasted by F1 Champion for ‘Revenge’ Game at Brazilian GP

Martin Brundle, former British motorsport driver, and current F1 commentator believe Hamilton broke character as he gave the Red Bull driver a taste of his own medicine.

Max Verstappen vs Lewis Hamilton, on-track collisions in recent times

As the lights went out at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Brazil last weekend, Verstappen and Hamilton came side by side after the safety car restart. On Lap 7, the duo collided, which left significant damage to the Dutchman’s front wing and forced the Briton to lose position.

Last season saw the fierce battle of supremacy between Hamilton and Verstappen. They clashed against each other multiple times on the track. As compared to last year, this year has been quiet for both of them as they rarely started side by side until this past race at Interlagos where they came together again.

The most memorable incident from last year is from Monza when the Red Bull driver ended up parking his car over the Halo of Lewis Hamilton’s W12 as they ran out of space in Turn 2. Apart from that, they collided in Saudi Arabia, and in Great Britain where Hamilton clipped Verstappen’s rear right to send him into the barriers.

WATCH THIS STORY: Helmut Marko blasts Lewis Hamilton for role in Michael Masi sacking

The 2021 F1 season started with Verstappen and Hamilton right on each other’s heels. While the Briton won a race, the Dutchman won another. But it was quite a thrilling aspect when they raced against each other. Do you think last season saw way too many collisions involving Verstappen and Hamilton?