Why Lewis Hamilton's post-race chemistry with Max Verstappen surprised F1 pundit

F1 pundit Peter Windsor recently talked about Lewis Hamilton's relationship and conversation with Max Verstappen after the 2023 F1 Canadian Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion was delighted to stand on a podium with two other world champions, i.e., Verstappen and Fernando Alonso. Even during the cooldown room, he had a positive conversation about the race details with his rival from the 2021 F1 season.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Windsor initially expressed his surprise about Hamilton feeling honored to stand on a podium with the other two world champions. The 38-year-old has won the title seven times, more than both Alonso and Verstappen's combined tally. The F1 pundit said:

"I was a bit confused by Lewis saying it was an honor or thrill or cool to be said on the podium with two world champions, says the seven-time world champion! I don't know, I think it was just the kid in Lewis coming out. He was excited to be out there with these two mega world champions."

Furthermore, Windsor dove deep into the conversation Lewis Hamilton had with Max Verstappen in the cooldown room, where they spoke about the bouncy nature of the track. While Hamilton openly stated how his car was bouncing quite a lot, Windsor speculated that Verstappen was trying not to give too many details about how his car was feeling. He concluded:

"I don't know much about their improved chemistry; it didn't look to be when they were talking in the green room. You know, Lewis said something like, 'Oh, the bouncing was terrible' or something like that, 'that was a really tough race."

"And you can see Max, he didn't want to give anything away at all about what the Red Bull was really like to drive. You could see his brain ticking over, and he is thinking, oh I better not say, 'No, it was incredibly good on my car or it was there but I lived with it, it wasn't an issue'."

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Lewis Hamilton praised Max Verstappen's and Fernando Alonso's cars' rear ends

After the 2023 F1 Canadian GP, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, and Max Verstappen sat in the cooldown room for a while, where they watched the race highlights and spoke to each other about it. The Mercedes driver was not shy to praise Verstappen's RB19's rear end and how detailed it looked. He acknowledged the rear end of Alonso's AMR23 as well.

"Your rear end is insane,” Hamilton said, in reply to which Alonso asked: "Mine?" Lewis then acknowledged the Spaniard’s rear wing as well. "His (Max Verstappen's). Yours is pretty awesome too."

It was one of the rare podiums in the Canadian GP where the top three drivers were all multiple-time world champions.