Damon Hill has doubled down on his criticism of Max Verstappen and claimed that the Red Bull driver is using “fear” and “intimidation.” The last few weeks have been controversial as the Dutch driver has found himself in hot water for his tactics while defending his position.
In Austin, the driver got away by taking advantage of a grey area and finished ahead of Lando Norris. In Mexico, however, that didn’t work as the tactics used by Max Verstappen to defend his position came under scrutiny from officials. The first maneuver saw him pushing the McLaren driver off-track at turn 4 in Mexico. This was followed by the Dutch driver pushing the Brit off the track again in turn 7.
The driver was given 10-second penalties for both incidents and hence ended up finishing the race behind the two Mercedes drivers. Damon Hill was very critical of how Max Verstappen had driven in the race and shared his views on social media, saying that such moves needed to be called out.
In the aftermath, Max Verstappen addressed those comments by claiming that there was a bias against him in the reporting. Following this, Hill was questioned during the Sky Sports broadcast about his views. The former F1 champion stood by his comments and went on to claim that intimidation and fear were being used by the Dutch driver in his tactics. Hill said,
“Yes, I do. I think that he [Verstappen] is using fear and intimidation. I think he also has explained a little bit more about his tactics, which has been that he regards it as a gamble. Sometimes it may pay off and sometimes he may get the better of the stewards, they might not apply a penalty. But he’s also using it as a way of compromising the title contender in Lando Norris.”
He added,
“So, there’s some logic, there’s some method, to his angriness, if you want to call it that, on the track. He, as he says, he knows what he’s doing, but is it right and is it fair? And I think there’s also rules….to ensure fairness, and we shouldn’t be condoning driving cars off the track.”
Max Verstappen has remained the same since he joined the sport, claims Damon Hill
Damon Hill further opined that Max Verstappen has continued to have the same approach since the beginning, where he’s tested what he could get away with.
There have been some areas where rules have been tightened, and then there are some areas where he continues to take advantage with tactics that could be termed dangerous. He said,
“I’m clear about what I understand Max to be. He’s been like that, and he’s been consistent from the moment he arrived in F1 in using what was regarded as dangerous tactics. The regulations have been brought in to clear up some of the things that he himself has brought upon himself, because of the way he drives.”
He added,
“The FIA bring in regulations, obviously, to try and contain it, because they don’t race to be like that. They don’t want dangerous situations as well, such as changing lines in the braking area and stuff like that, which is what he used to get up to as well.”
The race in Brazil is possibly going to be the next chapter in this intriguing second half of the season. The Red Bull driver has not had the best run coming into this weekend, and with Norris in great form, it would be interesting to see how he approaches this.
