DISCLAIMER: Jos Verstappen has since denied being interviewed by F1 Insider.
The British Grand Prix opened the floodgates to an entirely different level of F1 rivalry between the two title contenders, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. But, the rivalry isn’t just restricted to the drivers. Max’s father, Jos Verstappen triggered a potential war of words between himself and Mercedes’ boss, Toto Wolff, too.
The senior Dutchman used some strong words to criticize Wolff. In the process, he also officially shut down any possibilities of his son switching to Mercedes in the future.
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What did the former F1 driver say?
As reported by F1-Insider, Jos claimed that Wolff had been in touch with him for years now, which was likely to pull the flying Dutchman out of Red Bull, and consequently into Mercedes.
“You don’t celebrate your victory with such euphoria when your colleague is still in the hospital. And as for Toto Wolff: We have had good contact for years,” he said.
“He kept calling and smeared honey around our mouths. I think everyone knows why. He didn’t get in touch yesterday. Now he no longer needs to call,” Jos added. (Translated via Google Translate)
The Verstappens were quite displeased with the way the seven-time world champion celebrated after lifting the GP trophy in front of his home crowd. Max, in specific, criticized Hamilton for pulling off such celebrations while his own racing colleague was in the hospital, recovering from a scary crash.
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Will there ever be clean racing between Verstappen and Hamilton?
It was undeniably a 50-50 blame on the two drivers for the incident around turn 9 at Silverstone. However, neither of the drivers were comfortable sharing the blame, and rather pointed fingers at each other.
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The post-race reactions too said it all, with Verstappen showcasing an immense level of frustration after losing a chunk of difference to his rival on the drivers’ table. So, will the incident slow down either of them at Hungaroring?
Well, we hardly think so. In fact, Verstappen will probably maintain his aggression against Hamilton on the track, which could trigger the reappearance of the McLaren version of the seven-time world champion too.
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Hence, looking at the heat that is going on between the two title rivals, neither Mercedes nor Red Bull will have enough nails to bite on by the end of this season. So, will Verstappen and Hamilton pull things back a bit in Hungary? Or will this season manage to witness more such chaos between the duo?
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