‘Anything goes’ in scrap for F1 title
DAVID Coulthard has declared Formula One has been “redefined as F1 UFC” ahead of its final round heavyweight title showdown between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
Following a chaotic penultimate race of the F1 championship at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which Hamilton won to draw level on points with his Red Bull rival, Coulthard said it now felt like “anything goes” on track as the gloves are off in the championship fight.
Verstappen was handed three separate sanctions for incidents involving Hamilton at Jeddah as tensions between the championship combatants escalated. The flash point came on lap 37 when the two drivers made contact, prompting the Mercedes champion to accuse Verstappen of “brake-testing” and “dangerous driving”.
Coulthard, a 13-time Grand Prix winner, said the racing between the pair had become like a motorsport version of the mixed martial arts.
“If we look at UFC and as far as I know there are only two rules and it’s about below the belt and it’s about the eyes and everything else goes,” Coulthard told the F1 Nation podcast. “This now feels like Formula One has been defined as F1 UFC and pretty much anything is going and then the stewards are stepping in.”
Verstappen and Hamilton head to Abu Dhabi equal on 369.5 points in the F1 drivers’ standings.
Hamilton is chasing his eighth world title while Verstappen is in pursuit of his first.
It will be the first time the championship has been decided in the final race of the season since 2016.