Title battle between Verstappen and Hamilton is fierce, but there is a lack of respect between them

The title fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton is the talk of this season. The duel between the two makes people think of fights we've seen before in Formula 1, including the one between Niki Lauda and James Hunt in 1976. Freddie Hunt, the son of Formula One world champion James Hunt, certainly sees comparisons.

"The 2021 World Championship is probably the best championship I've ever seen. It's similar to 1976 in that it's extremely close and exciting," Freddie Hunt told Gazetta Motori.

At the moment it is still unclear who will win the championship, but Hunt has no doubts and seems to know: "Verstappen looks more like my dad than Lewis. Actually, Hamilton doesn't look like James at all."

Death used to play a bigger role

The battle between Lauda and Hunt was fierce, but with that rivalry there was certainly also a lot of respect. According to Freddie Hunt, this is just not the case when looking at the title fight going on now.

"Niki and my dad had more respect for each other and gave each other more room in the hand-to-hand combat. They knew that if they risked a lot, they might even kill one of their friends. In their day, Max wouldn't have gotten out of the car as easily after an accident as he did at Copse, given the speed," Hunt said.