Lewis rivalry is blast from past
MEMORIES OF SENNA V PROST DUELS
THE rivalry between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton could turn out to be as exciting as the great Ayrton Senna v Alain Prost battle in the late Eighties.
Fans were treated to an epic duel in the closing stages of the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix three weeks ago.
Following a dramatic victory for Hamilton as he pipped his Red Bull rival by less than a second, it is advantage Mercedes heading into round two in Italy.
But it is the first time for a while the defending champion has really felt the heat coming from another team, rather than just his team-mate.
The Briton said: “We love the challenge. It’s exciting for all of us and it’s not one we shy away from.
“Nothing changes for us, we approach every weekend as we always have. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
“We’ve had multiple battles with Ferrari, with Seb [Vettel] when he was at Ferrari and we’ve just got to keep our heads down and continue to do what we do.
“I hope it’s exciting for the fans. I hope it’s all it’s cracked up to be, particularly in a time that we need the best entertainment possible.
“For me, it’s fighting with Seb [Vettel], fighting with Valtteri [Bottas], you just want to be fighting with the best drivers and as close as possible, so that you can hopefully try to eke out more than your competitors.”
Formula One’s legendary rivalry between Senna and Prost was at its most intense when they were team-mates at McLaren in 1988 and 1989, each winning a world title in that time.
Now, ahead of Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Verstappen hopes coming second to Hamilton and Mercedes will not be a pointer for how the title race pans out.
“It’s definitely an opportunity missed, but if we have the fastest car then it’s not going to matter, because we have 22 races to finish in front of them,” said the Dutchman.
“Maybe Bahrain was a one off, but I hope not. I have a good feeling it will not be, but then in the race I was battling with a few issues as well, so it was not the smoothest race from our side, so we definitely can do better.
“But, for sure, they can also do better so, we’ll just have to make sure we keep improving and keep bringing bits to the car to make it faster.
“The rest is all about when I look at myself. You always try to do better so, as a team, we always try to improve with procedures and everything.”