David Coulthard made tasty Hamilton Verstappen prediction

Mercedes: What’s gone wrong at the F1 and can they recover?

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David Coulthard has admitted he thought Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen would crash into each other at the United States Grand Prix. The former McLaren driver claimed he thought the pair could clash as they went side-by-side for the lead in Austin.

Coulthard told Channel 4: “I was watching the unfold and I was thinking ‘they’re going to come together, they’re going to come together’ because they did it so many times last year.” Hamilton and Verstappen collided three times last season in their tense championship fight,

Verstappen was the victim of a 51G shunt at Silverstone after the pair made contact at Copse corner. Months later, Verstappen went over the top of Hamilton’s car at the Italian Grand Prix.

The bitter rivals then clashed in Saudi Arabia as the title fight boiled over. On Sunday, Hamilton inherited P1 after a slow tyre change at Verstappen’s second pit stop dropped the Dutchman to third.

Verstappen was annoyed at his team for the mistake but fought through on his medium tyres to hunt down Hamilton. He closed up on the seven-time champion with just a handful of laps remaining but bided his time to use DRS to his advantage.

The reigning champion dived to the inside at turn 12 to take back the lead and quickly pulled out a gap to stop Hamilton fighting back. Coulthard added: “An uncharacteristic slow pit stop that will be reviewed and understood, and then Max makes the difference.

“He was able to utilise the speed of his car, but then go wheel-to-wheel again with Lewis. How great was it to see these two wonderful drivers battling the corners and Lewis typically not giving up when he got past into the end of the back straight.

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“He’s freaking fighting back again but in the end the tyres were going and the race pace is just not quite as strong as Red Bull.” The result was still Hamilton’s joint-best finish of the season and his first podium since July.

The boost came as Mercedes introduced a series of new upgrades to their car for the weekend including an updated floor and new rear wing. However, he was still unable to live with Verstappen who continued to enjoy a straight-line speed advantage which was crucial for his overtake.

Hamilton’s former team-mate Nico Rosberg believes Hamilton could have defended his position better but “underestimated” Verstappen’s advantage.

He explained: “I wonder if Lewis, I think he underestimated in that moment how fast that Red Bull is in top speed and how quickly the Red Bull closes in at the end of that straight. It was the first time Max was really that close. It was just difficult for Lewis to judge and understand how incredibly fast that Red Bull was down the straight. Otherwise, maybe he could have come over a little bit earlier and close that door a bit more.”

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