Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s rivalry is a volatile landmine and a changing of the F1 guard, claims Damon Hill
LEWIS HAMILTON’S rivalry with Max Verstappen has all the ingredients of an instant classic.
That is according to British former racing driver Damon Hill, who described Hamilton and Verstappen’s feud as a ‘very volatile landmine’.
Hill also claims this tug-of-war will mark the ‘changing of the guard’ just like in 1994 when Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna butted heads.
The former Williams driver told the F1 Nations Podcast: “The conflict between Lewis and Max has created a very volatile landmine in the sport.
“The rivalry we are seeing is the changing of the guard for the future of the sport.
“Lewis is hanging on at the end of his career, whereas Max wants to go on and win world championships.
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“Lewis definitely has the mentality of ‘I want to stay and win even more and put the record further out of reach’. But he still hasn’t cracked Schumacher’s total.
“This is what’s going on in the heads of these drivers. This is the clash we see.
“We see a man who won’t let go, who won’t give up on a world title because it’s the last icing on the cake. And Max is going to try and stop him.
“And that’s where we saw Michael Schumacher coming on the trail of Ayrton Senna in ’94.
” It’s great when you can achieve dominance, but there’s always someone new coming up. That’s worth fighting for, but you know time is against you.
“A new era will be someone else. And actually letting go of your position, your identity as the man, is pretty hard.”
The rivalry between Mercedes’ Hamilton and Red Bull’s Verstappen reached boiling point at the British Grand Prix two weeks ago.
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The two Formula One stars crashed at Silverstone when the Brit tagged the rear right of the Dutchman’s car and sent him hurtling into the barriers at 180mph.
The hefty impact was measured at a G-force of 51G and understandably led to a red flag as he was picked out of the wreckage.
Verstappen was sent to hospital for additional checks and Red Bull boss Christian Horner accused Hamilton, who won the race, of putting his driver’s life in danger with his ‘desperate’ driving.