One of Max Verstappen’s Closest Allies Brutally Betrayed Him by Exposing His “Naughty” Tactics Against Lewis Hamilton

The battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton is among the most entertaining rivalries in the modern era of F1. While 2022 was an easy ride for the Dutchman, things were not so smooth in 2021. At times, frustration took over, forcing him to take rash steps. Red Bull CTO has now come out and slammed his own champion driver for one of those antics.

The drivers’ championship run in 2021 went right down to the final lap of the final race. Throughout the season, Mercedes and Red Bull had a go at each other, with drivers and team principals getting involved. A few times, Verstappen and Hamilton had incidents as neither of the drivers was ready to concede. Red Bull’s Adrian Newey recently opened up on those incidents in a recent interview.

Speaking with The Race, Newey said, “Probably what he did in Brazil last year was a bit naughty (taking Hamilton off the track by going straight to avoid being overtaken).”

“Saudi was silly but I think he got frustrated with Lewis not overtaking him but he still shouldn’t have brake-tested him. But Silverstone to me was a clear professional foul [by Hamilton] and people seem to have a short memory.”

Verstappen intentionally brake-testing Hamilton in the Saudi Arabian GP was downrightly denied by Red Bull back then. Newey’s recent interview absolutely trashes those claims.

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Newey had earlier slammed the FIA for the latest regulations that were rolled out in 2022. However, in The Race interview, he has taken a completely different stance.

Adrian Newey tracks back on his 2022 regulations stand

In a recent interview with Dieter Rencken, Newey talked about the 2022 car regulations leaving engineers in a muck. He talked about how cars were getting heavier and engineers had to devise ways to derive more power from either gasoline or batteries. Now, he has hailed the regulations for bringing out the creativity of F1 technicians by giving them enough freedom.

“I do enjoy reg changes but when I first saw these regs I was quite depressed by them,” he told. “At first sight, they appear to be very prescriptive. But as you dig into it more then – particularly in the area of the sidepod and floor – there’s actually a reasonable degree of freedom. More than you first think.”

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We saw some vastly different sidepod designs in 2022. While Ferrari went for big, horizontal air intakes, Mercedes chose a vertical and minimal design. The front wings, however, remained pretty identical in all cars.