Formula 1 fans sure love a good little battle, and Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have not disappointed us so far. Both drivers have been going at it wheel-to-wheel during all three races of the 2021 season.
While everything between them has been fair till now, one can never be sure when it will begin to boil.
Hamilton and Verstappen had a tough battle in Bahrain. Things heated up when they made contact in Imola on the opening lap. In Portimao, they went back and forth with Hamilton emerging victorious.
The question that arises is will the battle between them stay clean or can we expect to see some fireworks?
According to Hamilton, the former holds more true as they have intense respect for each other.
“I think it is naturally down to respect and I think both very, very hard but fair and that’s what makes great racing and great racing drivers.
“We will continue to keep it clean and keep it on the edge but I don’t think either of us has a plan to get any closer than we have been.”
At the conclusion of the Portuguese GP, Hamilton holds a lead of eight points in front of Verstappen. Just like his Mercedes rival, he also wants to keep things clean.
The Dutchman also revealed that the duo have absolute ‘trust’ between each other to not cause any collision intentionally.
“I guess you can trust each other to just race super-hard. I think that’s always really nice because you can see in the three races we’ve had we haven’t really… well, we gave each… how you say?
“It’s been really close to each other but predictable. Lewis has never had something like ‘oh, we’re going to crash’ or something.
“I always have full trust in Lewis that we all give each other enough space,” said Verstappen.
The race for the title this year is more of a marathon rather than a sprint. So, both the drivers are just trying to accumulate some points.
It is rare for a title fight to stay absolutely clean and we can expect things to heat up further as the season progresses.
Do you think it will get tense between Verstappen and Hamilton? Let us know in the comments below!
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