“If It Were Lando or George, It’d Be the Same…”: Max Verstappen Downplays Hyped Up 2021 Battle With Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had a titanic battle for the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship. You’d expect emotions to be running high when you’re battling a 7-time World Champion. It has to be a feeling that cannot be rivalled. However, the Dutch Lion feels otherwise.

The Verstappen and Hamilton rivalry will go down in the history books. However, Verstappen feels that it wasn’t down to the fact that he was fighting with an established legend of the sport. He downplayed the season-long battle by hinting towards the fact that the fight would have been intense, irrespective of the competition.

While speaking to Channel 4 Sport, Verstappen said, “Well, I think, of course people hype it up a bit but I think it’s just really cool that we are able to fight in two different cars against each other for the Championship.”. However, he then went on to downplay the whole rivalry by saying, “At the end of the day if it would be Lando for example or George in that same car it’s still the same feeling.”.

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Lewis Hamilton himself has been very coy and defensive when it comes to Max Verstappen. Red Bull boss Christian Horner has observed this and pulled no punches when it came to expressing this in a sly jab at the Briton.

Christian Horner accuses Lewis Hamilton for failing to “recognise” Max Verstappen and his abilities

After what transpired last year between the two, it should not come as a surprise that Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton don’t particularly see eye-to-eye. However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner feels that the Briton has failed to give Verstappen credit where credit’s been due.

Horner, during a recent episode of the podcast ‘Beyond the Grid’ said, “I’ve never once ever heard Lewis recognise Max’s ability, and so of course, there was just a bit more needle. You could feel that and you could sense that between those two drivers.”. He then proceeded to take a pointed dig at Hamilton. “Max had a respectfulness, but he wasn’t in awe of him or he wasn’t afraid of him.”.

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Will Max Verstappen surpass the standards and records set by Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1 to declare himself as the undisputed G.O.A.T of F1?