How Verstappen is ruining his F1 title battle with Hamilton

Before the start of the 2021 Formula 1 season, the only question mark over Max Verstappen’s championship credentials was whether, with something to lose, he could rein himself in.

We knew he had the speed, the team behind him, the wet-weather skills, the consistency – everything except the experience of fighting for a title and sometimes not going for a half-gap.

After his controversial British Grand Prix clash with Lewis Hamilton, a similar question was raised: can Verstappen learn to look at the bigger picture and give his rivals some racing room? If the events of the Italian GP are anything to go by, the answer to both questions remains a resounding no.

The Silverstone accident, which put Verstappen in hospital, was deemed to be Hamilton’s fault. But more than one ex-F1 driver subsequently told Autosport that they felt it was a racing incident and, perhaps more importantly, that it showed Verstappen still hadn’t changed his ‘you give way or we crash’ approach.

In normal circumstances you could argue that the clash at Monza’s first chicane was also a racing accident – one driver trying around the outside is rebuffed and contact ensues. It’s probably also worth noting that in both the Silverstone and Monza clashes the stewards’ judgements implied partial blame for the non-penalised driver – Verstappen was considered mostly to blame at Monza but they also said Hamilton could have given more room to avoid the crash (even though they considered his actions at the chicane reasonable).

But in the context of the ongoing battle between Hamilton and Verstappen, the Dutchman has to take more of the responsibility.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, at the start of the Emilia Romagna GP

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Time and again Hamilton has made sure the two haven’t crashed. You could argue it was easy for him to do that in the past because he was fighting for world championships and Verstappen was not – the Mercedes driver could afford to lose the odd battle and still win the war.

PLUS: Why Ricciardo was set for Monza F1 triumph even without Verstappen/Hamilton crash

This year, however, the Red Bull RB16B has had a marginal advantage over the Mercedes W12 more often than not. Hamilton can’t afford to let Verstappen have things all his own way.

And yet even in that context, Hamilton has shown he is still prepared to back off. When he tried to go around the outside of Verstappen on the first lap at Imola, he was given no room and took to the sausage kerbs (and avoided further contact). At Barcelona, when Verstappen steamed down the inside into Turn 1, it was Hamilton who stepped aside.

To be fair, Verstappen has improved a great deal since his first couple of seasons in F1, which included moves under braking that concerned the other drivers. But there is an element of hypocrisy in his attitude

With that in mind, it is not surprising that Hamilton, who was alongside as they approached Copse on the first lap of the British GP, didn’t back off. Perhaps he thought that, at such a high-speed corner, Verstappen would be more conservative and give him room. After all, the Red Bull driver was on the outside and had more to lose…

Hamilton, after a few issues in his early days, is not one to deliberately cause an accident and has forged a reputation as a hard but fair racer. But at Copse he drew a line in the sand – and asked Verstappen the question: how would Max respond, as a title challenger, to a more robust Hamilton?

The championship leader answered on the first lap at Monza, when Hamilton had a look around the outside at the second chicane. Verstappen gave him no room, so the Merc backed out of it.

The Imola, Barcelona and Monza moves could all be deemed just about acceptable if Verstappen returned the favour in similar situations. But he doesn’t.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, battles with Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

It was clear he wasn’t going to make it by Hamilton as the Mercedes came out of the pits on lap 26 of the Italian GP. Hamilton showed he wasn’t going to make life easy and still Max kept coming.

Realising Verstappen was still there, Hamilton gave him some room for the left-hander, but it was too late. Verstappen, who surely would have gone off on his own had he not had a Mercedes to land on, bounced across the sausage kerbs and the two championship contenders again failed to have a clean fight.

Perhaps Verstappen was still fuming after a rare slow Red Bull pitstop had put him in that position in the first place – his radio messages indicated that was the case. He also knew from the sprint race behind Valtteri Bottas that it was unlikely he’d get another chance to overtake the Mercedes, but the crash was avoidable.

"You need two people to work together, right?" said Verstappen. "So if one guy is not willing to work, then what do you do? It's still going to happen."

Quite. Hamilton has shown plenty of times he is happy to ‘work’ with a rival. Indeed, in the 2019 Italian GP he decided discretion was the better part of valour when Charles Leclerc gave him insufficient room as they battled for the lead. Autosport understands that it was agreed in a meeting of team managers late in 2019 that Leclerc’s move should have been punished more, perhaps helping to explain why Esteban Ocon’s similar effort on Sebastian Vettel last weekend was penalised.

Verstappen, on the other hand, is less accommodating.

Fernando Alonso, Renault R25, Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren Mercedes MP4-20

Photo by: Gareth Bumstead / Motorsport Images

To be fair, he has improved a great deal since his first couple of seasons in F1, which included moves under braking that concerned the other drivers. But there is an element of hypocrisy in Verstappen’s attitude – he expects other drivers to give space he will not afford them when roles are reversed.

And that’s a great shame. A combination of better stewarding and the post-Michael Schumacher generation – led by Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton and Jenson Button – has greatly improved wheel-to-wheel racing standards over the past decade and a half.

Great drivers – and headline-makers – though they were, Ayrton Senna and Schumacher took driving ethics to a dark place that at times was toxic for the sport. We’ve moved away from that and it would be a shame if we were denied some genuinely good racing that Hamilton’s and Verstappen’s abilities should surely allow.

Verstappen is clearly a great driver, but his will to win at all costs – shades of Senna? – could end up costing him the title if he doesn’t work out when to be aggressive

And, as Toto Wolff pointed out after the Italian GP, there is the safety factor to consider. F1 cars are safer now than they ever have been, but motorsport will never be entirely safe. Verstappen’s 51G impact at Copse was the biggest of his career, while Wolff said the halo – introduced in 2018 – “definitely saved Lewis’s life” at the Rettifilo chicane.

As the cliché goes, it takes two to tango and Hamilton is certainly not blameless, but the bigger change surely needs to come from Verstappen’s side. The two drivers have to reach some sort of understanding before they hurt themselves or someone else, such as a marshal.

Red Bull could also help matters. Its over-the-top chasing of a harsher penalty for Hamilton after Silverstone did it no favours, implying that their driver was beyond reproach. It also seemed a bit rich coming from the team with arguably the most aggressive driver on the current grid.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, crash out

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

Christian Horner and Helmut Marko must be commended for creating one of F1’s greatest teams in a relatively short period of time, but they do struggle to control their lead drivers. We saw it when Vettel had some of his more dubious moments alongside Mark Webber during Red Bull’s 2010-13 golden era and we’re seeing it again now.

They are supporting their man publicly, which is fine, but one has to hope that they’ll have a quiet word with Verstappen in private.

Red Bull has produced a car capable of winning the world championship, against one of the all-time best team-driver line-ups in F1 history. Verstappen is clearly a great driver, but his will to win at all costs – shades of Senna? – could end up costing him the title if he doesn’t work out when to be aggressive and when to bide his time.

It would be a travesty if his career and modern F1, which has provided some great races recently, was sullied by an inability to know that you can stick as well as twist.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12 and Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B collide

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images