Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff have been widely criticised by fans and pundits alike for downplaying Max Verstappen’s achievements in the wake of last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix. The Dutchman crossed the line in first place to secure his 10th straight win, setting a new all-time record in the process.
Hamilton was not overly impressed, though, as he insisted that Verstappen was no better than Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso or any other dominant driver before him. Toto Wolff, meanwhile, branded his new record ‘completely irrelevant’ and suggested that it would only be noticed by people reading obscure F1 statistics on Wikipedia.
The pair have since been slammed by Martin Brundle, who was left ‘surprised and disappointed’ by their remarks on Verstappen. He told Sky Sports: “If a tennis player or football or rugby team for example was so utterly complete and dominant, they would rightly be globally lauded at the highest level, as should this pairing be.
“Sport can and should be tribal, but you must surely also appreciate a level of excellence in others. So I was a little surprised and disappointed that Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff played down this achievement over the weekend because they rightly received their due reverence and appreciation during their years of total domination from 2014 to 2020.”
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Hamilton has two ‘serious problems’
Jackie Stewart believes that Lewis Hamilton no longer has the hunger to beat Max Verstappen to future Drivers’ Championship titles.
The legendary Scot also pointed to Mercedes’ lack of pace as another pressing issue for Hamilton, who recently signed a two-year contract extension with the Silver Arrows.
“First of all, Lewis is one of the best to ever drive in Formula One, but in the last decade he competed with Mercedes for a team that was virtually out of competition,” Stewart told Bild.
“During this time, Lewis only had one real competitor, his respective team-mate. Except for 2016, he always emerged victorious from the duel, and then he lost to Nico Rosberg. With respect, [Rosberg is] a good driver, but not the most talented in the world.
“Rosberg was hungry and had the absolute will to become world champion. Lewis no longer has that hunger. Because of that, and because the car is no longer quite as powerful, he has serious problems.”
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