Lewis Hamilton applauded by F1 presenter for "not ever blaming" Max Verstappen for Abu Dhabi 2021

F1 presenter Natalie Pinkham recently praised Lewis Hamilton for never blaming Max Verstappen for what happened during the 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP.

Verstappen won his first world championship after some controversial decisions were made by the race director in Abu Dhabi. Despite all the tension and drama, both drivers still have a decent relationship with each other, on and off the track.

Speaking on the "F1 Nation" podcast, Pinkham explained how she respects Hamilton for not blaming Verstappen in any way for what happened in 2021. Furthermore, she expressed her delight to see both of them casually talking to each other without any tension between them.

"I was thinking exactly that, and I have got a huge amount of respect for Lewis for being able to park that moment, not ever blame Max for it," Pinkham said.

"He shook his hand at the time, and he has kept that conversation going between them. It will be easy not to, but I love seeing them interact because you can see the mutual respect between them."

Tom Clarkson, who was also present on the podcast, spoke about how Lewis Hamilton congratulated Max Verstappen in the cooldown room last weekend. Hamilton did so after Verstappen equalled Ayrton Senna's race win record by winning the 2023 F1 Canadian GP.

This shows that despite the intense and controversial title battle between the two less than two years ago, they don't hold grudges against each other. They also seem to communicate like regular racing drivers competing against each other.

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Lewis Hamilton's take on his stint in the 2023 F1 Canadian GP and on pace difference to his rivals

Lewis Hamilton recently spoke about his race in the 2023 F1 Canadian GP, explaining how he and Mercedes struggled with the low-speed corners in Montreal. He stated that he lost time to both Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso out of turn 2, which was a low-speed right-hander.

Hamilton, who finished third, said:

"We didn't have the pace today. I think where we struggle… I mean, we knew that this weekend, this wouldn't be our strongest circuit, as we struggle in the lower-speed corners particularly.

"And that's really where I was losing to Fernando and to Max, just on traction out of Turn 2, out of pretty much every corner."

However, the Briton is happy with the progress Mercedes has made and the direction they are taking in developing the car. He concluded:

"We've got a lot of work to do just to add rear downforce to the car and a little bit more efficiency, but we're chipping away as I said, and I do believe we will get there at some stage," he continued.

"Max was a little bit gone, but I think our pace is a little bit closer today, so we are going in the right direction."

As of now, Lewis Hamilton is fourth in the drivers' championship table, right behind Fernando Alonso in third.