Mercedes boss wants Lewis Hamilton to LOSE F1 World Championship to Max Verstappen as ‘it is time for someone else’
MERCEDES DTM boss Hubert Haupt wants Max Verstappen to win the F1 World Championship over Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen, 24, leads the Brit by 12 points with just five races to go.
Should Verstappen become champion, it’ll be Red Bulls’ first since 2013, and it would end Mercedes’ seven-year domination.
And Haupt thinks ‘it’s time’ for someone other than Hamilton to be top of the F1 mountain.
Haupt competes in the DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) championship with three Mercedes cars for HRT, the team he owns.
He told Sport1: “I think it’s time for someone other than (Lewis) Hamilton to become world champion.
“In terms of Formula 1, it would be huge for Red Bull to win the title, so I hope Verstappen manages it.
“There are still a few more circuits that suit Mercedes, but if Max scores well in the next two races, he will have the nerve to hang onto it.”
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Mexico, Brazil, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi will be the battlegrounds where the title is decided.
Hamilton won the last time F1 was in Mexico City back in 2019, but Verstappen has a knack for winning on the track too.
Verstappen won in back-to-back seasons before Hamilton’s win.
And the Dutchman also won in Brazil in 2019.
Verstappen is ‘very relaxed’ as the title race nears a close.
He told the New York Times: “Sometimes people take F1 too seriously, like it’s a life-or-death situation.
“[Drivers think] ‘if I don’t make it to F1, my life is over,’ or something like that. For me, that was never the case and never will be.
“I’m very happy that I am in F1 now, but even if I wasn’t, I would still do something else – racing-related stuff to have fun, to have a good time.”
The dream is always to win the championship, but you need to have a bit of luck.
Mex Verstappen
He continued: “I know that if my car is fast enough until the end of the season, I will win the championship.
“But if it’s not, then we probably won’t win it. At the end of the day, it’s not going to change my world.
“Of course the goal, the dream is always to win the championship, but you need to have a bit of luck, you need to have the right car for it to be at the right time of the season or across the whole season.
“It’s a dream from when I was a little kid together with my dad [former F1 driver Jos], to get to F1 in the first place and then trying to fight for a title.
“For sure, it would mean a lot if we can win it.”
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