After the thrilling show at the Bahrain Grand Prix put on by Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, fans are in for a treat as the two look set to battle it out over the course of the season.
Even though Verstappen took pole position at the Sakhir circuit, 0.3 seconds up over Hamilton, the tables turned as the latter took victory by a mere 0.7 seconds.
This showed what Formula 1 can offer to its fans at peak performance. The win was decided by Mercedes’ strategy, Hamilton’s consistency and a mistake from Verstappen. Fans expected Verstappen to dominate Hamilton even if it meant he would need to copy his technique.
But Verstappen feels that copying is not part of his DNA.
“I don’t look at it like that,” Verstappen told Autosport.
“I first look at what I could have done better or different – [after] every single race.
“And then… I do watch other people and review stuff, but I am not someone who copies. I’m myself.
“Because if you copy stuff from others, you’re always going to be behind first of all – because you’re not innovating and becoming better than them.
“Of course you can just look at it, you can observe it. But at the end of the day, I’m myself and I think that works the best for me – to be myself.”
The 10-grand prix winner considers Hamilton to be one of the best drivers ever to have raced Formula 1.
The Mercedes driver is chasing an eighth world title which would be a new record for F1. He already holds several records including most pole positions and most wins, to name just a few.
When asked who does he think is the best driver in F1, Verstappen immediately named Hamilton.
“Man, you know it’s super hard, but of course you have to give credit to Lewis.
“[For] the way he has dealt with all the years, to always come back and be honoured and win that amount of races and championships. You definitely cannot go around Lewis.
“But, of course, there are still a lot of other people in Formula 1, I think who are very good, very strong, and would have been very good in that car as well.
“But still, of course, the way Lewis has won and also sometimes in tricky races – like last year in Turkey, to win that race, I think he did very well.
“Yeah, definitely he is one of the best ever in Formula 1.”
Do you think Hamilton will break the record by claiming an eighth world title? Let us know in the comments below!
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