Verstappen never got compliments: 'Hamilton had to keep him down'

The first part of the documentary 'Duel: Verstappen v Hamilton' has been released on Sky Sports. In the first part footage from the 2021 Formula 1 season is broadcast, but we also hear some interesting new quotes.

The title race in 2021

The 2021 Formula One season is one for the history books. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen went into the final race of the season with the same number of points and the title was decided on the final lap of the last race in Abu Dhabi. Tensions therefore ran high throughout the season.

For Mercedes, 2021 was quite a challenge. For example, Toto Wolff explained once again that the rule changes prior to the year were drastic. According to him, it was similar to a football match where the opponent suddenly leads 1-0 and you have to play without shoes. The biggest rivalry, however, is between Verstappen and Hamilton.

"One of Verstappen's fellow go-kart drivers [who said] with him it's either win it or bin it. The other guys bail out not to cause a collision," Wolff says in the documentary. Wolff himself, however, has a rivalry with Christian Horner: "Sometimes he [Horner] oversteps the mark with the vocabulary, pretty rough. But I have learned to ignore that. He's a competitor, the enemy on track."

Hamilton ignored Verstappen

Whereas the Austrian mainly points to Horner's language and Verstappen's aggressiveness, Ted Kravitz saw a development with Mercedes and Hamilton much earlier. Indeed, according to the Sky Sports analyst, Lewis has always known that Max was coming.

"Hamilton didn't compliment Verstappen in his driving. Hamilton knew he had to keep Verstappen down but this [2021] was the season he couldn't keep him down any longer. There was a feeling from Hamilton that he couldn't let Max win the British Grand Prix. Hamilton knew, he couldn't let Max go because of his experience in the sprint race, otherwise he'd have won it easily. They threw everything at each other, every trick in the book. Silverstone really was the moment the gloves game off. Verstappen was in the wall, in the hospital. It really, really annoyed them," concludes Kravitz.