Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE MAX INSPECTOR
Lew runs a full check on bitter rival Verstappen to gain title advantage
LEWIS HAMILTON has been running background checks on rival Max Verstappen in a bid to gain the advantage in their world title battle.
Back-to-back wins have helped the Mercedes star cut the gap to Red Bull’s championship leader to just eight points with two races to go.
But Hamilton is not just relying on his raw pace to get the job done as he pursues an historic eighth drivers’ title.
“Now that I’m older, I look a little bit deeper into their character and a bit of their background and upbringing,” he revealed. “Our upbringing is why we act out the way we do and behave the way we do, good or bad.
“So I try to understand those, so I can have more appreciation of who that character is I am racing with.”
The conclusion Hamilton has drawn seems to be that he is up against a driver who will give no quarter on the track, as their numerous run-ins this season have demonstrated.
“You just have to be very, very wary – more wary than ever before,” he added.
“So you always have to be ready to avoid a collision at all costs, even if it means going wide, because you want to see the end of the race, right?
“If you’re stubborn and you hold your ground, you’re going to crash. I am not too big or too successful to have to back out to fight another day. I know that is sometimes the route you have to take. You have to be the smarter one.”
The duo (below) have collided at the British and Italian Grands Prix this season, Hamilton getting the blame at Silverstone and Verstappen at Monza.
More recently, Dutchman Verstappen escaped censure for his elbows out move in Brazil which forced Hamilton to take evasive action.
But it is nothing the 36-year-old has not experienced before in his battles with the likes of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel over the years.
“I’ve been doing this a long time so it’s not the first time I’ve been faced with a driver that’s been good and bad in certain ways. And I think I’m in just a much better position to be able to handle that, to deal with that,” Hamilton told the BBC.
“I know he’s a super-fast guy and he’s going to get stronger and stronger as he matures over time. Which he will no doubt do.
“Look at myself when I was 24, 25. Jeez, the mistakes I was making back then.
“I had the speed but I was going through a lot of different experiences outside the car and also being in the limelight – the pressures of being at the front.
“I don’t think I did much right then, so I don’t hold that against anybody.”