"He is remarkable in wheel-to-wheel racing" - David Coulthard raves about Lewis Hamilton's control in close quarters

Former F1 driver-turned-pundit David Coulthard was all praise for Lewis Hamilton and his wheel-to-wheel racing prowess.

Speaking on the popular F1 Nation podcast, the British driver commended his fellow countryman for his brilliant style of close racing at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which was full of unexpected incidents, red flags, and safety cars.

Coulthard expressed admiration for Lewis Hamilton, saying:

"Of course you can start analyzing Lewis Hamilton's race and he is remarkable when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing. He had contact with Ocon but yet not really that damaged. He managed to run into the back of Max and avoid damaging his front wing. Anyone else would have knocked their entire front wing off. He is incredible at close-quarters racing and has ultimately come through and won this race."

David Coulthard filled in for 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill on the most recent edition of the podcast. They reviewed the controversial Grand Prix, talking about both drivers, their strengths, and their weaknesses. Coulthard had a seemingly positive outlook on the events that unfolded on Sunday night and was especially praiseful of Lewis Hamilton, who won the race despite the unusual circumstances.

Coulthard also seems to be one of the very few F1 pundits who has praised both drivers after the race in Jeddah. The Briton also had good things to say about Max Verstappen, who has received large amounts of criticism for dangerous driving throughout the season. He said:

"If you analyze Max's race, his overtake to go down the inside of both cars - Lewis Hamilton and Ocon - and still make the corner was brilliant. His use of allowing Lewis Hamilton to overtake just before the DRS and then re-overtake him again and get DRS was a brilliant bit of lateral thinking. I think there's a lot of things that for me would say that Max deserved to win this Grand Prix."

Readers can listen to the entire podcast on F1 Nation wherever they listen to their podcasts from.

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Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's crash reminiscent of Belgium 1998

In what was one of the most chaotic Grand Prix's in F1 history, the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in 1998 saw Michael Schumacher running into the back of David Coulthard in a similar fashion to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's crash last Sunday.

A wet start saw utter chaos as most of the grid crashed out at La Source before heading into Eau Rouge. The race, which was then red-flagged, resumed a while later, with Michael Schumacher dominating the field. On lap 25 of the race, Schumacher, who was about to lap Coulthard, ran into the back of the latter's McLaren.

The chaos continued as the world champion stormed into Coulthard's pit garage to confront him. The Briton mentioned the event in the same podcast, saying:

"Given my experience of when Michael ran into the back of me in Spa, when I was told that I had to let Michael past, I slowed down to let him past, but he ran into the back of me. There was a lot of criticism of me at the time - did I brake test him? did I do something to help Mika in the championship? - No! I just followed the instructions of the team, which were to let him past."

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will conclude their exciting championship battle at the revised Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next Sunday, where the 2021 world champion will be crowned in a much-awaited finale.

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