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The rivalry with Lewis Hamilton has resulted in 'a lot of pressure' on Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team, the Dutchman has confessed. Verstappen was speaking in an interview with Sky F1 at the Red Bull factory after his maiden world championship win.
When asked to reflect on his battles with the seven-time world champion, the 24-year-old said:
“Well, I think it’s great for the sport. I had a great fight throughout the whole season with Lewis (Hamilton) and of course, we came together but at the end of the day, we respect each other a lot as drivers.”
Max Verstappen was quick to acknowledge that his battle would be nothing without the work of the entire Red Bull team.
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The newly-crowned world champion for 2021 went on to add:
“...The way we pushed each other to the limit every single race but also pushing each other to the limit with the car. But also, the team, they always had to be perfect. Or try to be perfect. And that brings a lot of pressure and stress for everyone and I think that's quite extraordinary. Because I've had seasons before where I was on the podium but I wasn't really tired because there was nothing to push for. They were too far away for me and I was quite comfortable with it or whatever. So, to have a season like this was pretty intense.”
2021 saw Max Verstappen take the fight to Lewis Hamilton. Despite not having a car as fast as the Mercedes W12, the Dutchman ended the year with more wins and podiums than his title rival. This consistent showing throughout the whole season ultimately made the difference in the title battle with Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton - Max Verstappen rivalry 'bit like Senna - Prost', says David Coulthard
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's rivalry has been compared to the one shared between F1 legends Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost by David Coulthard.
The former F1 driver-turned-TV pundit was Ayrton Senna's test driver at Williams and had seen the Brazilian at the peak of his powers against Alain Prost in the late 80's and early 90's.
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, this is what Coulthard had to say about Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's intense rivalry in 2021:
“This is a remarkable situation, a remarkable championship. And I wonder a bit like we saw with Prost and Senna, who wouldn’t even be in the same room as each other at a certain point, and then came together. If you remember at Ayrton’s last victory, he called Alain upon the podium in Adelaide, and they, as far as I understood it, ended up with so much of racing respect, even though they didn’t like each other at some point.”
Like the two contenders from last season, Senna and Prost had some huge major incidents that decided the world title, most notably in 1989 and 1990, both times at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, however, will need some more chapters to their rivalry if they are to be held in the same regard as Senna-Prost.
