Lewis Hamilton called ‘lucky’ to have Max Verstappen rivalry as F1 title race goes to wire
Lewis Hamilton goes undercover to inspire school children
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Lewis Hamilton is ‘lucky’ to have Max Verstappen driving him on in F1, according to Alain Prost. Both men have been in fine form throughout the Formula One season. And their battle for Championship glory is evenly poised with two races of the season remaining.
Hamilton went into the season expected to dominate again, having won seven F1 titles so far.
But Verstappen has pushed the Brit all the way and, with two races remaining, is still in with a chance of winning the prize.
Verstappen currently leads Hamilton by eight points in the standings ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix next weekend.
And Prost, speaking to Channel 4, believes Hamilton is ‘lucky’ he’s got somebody to drive him on.
“We are very lucky to witness this championship this year with two great drivers,” he said.
“Everyone asks me about Ayrton [Senna] and myself, but if you remember at the time we had five or six years difference. We were talking already about the difference of generations.
“Now they have 12, 13 years difference so it’s a big gap, but you almost have a young guy but with already a lot of experience, a lot of speed, and Lewis – we all know what he has done.
“In fact, I was thinking that for Lewis, he’s very lucky to have Max at the moment pushing him, because when you have won seven times the championship and more than 100 wins, what do you want to achieve?
“So you need to have an extra motivation and what I’ve learned in the past is when you have two like this fighting as hard, you get the best of yourself, the best of your team, so it’s fantastic.
“What is true is whoever it will be, Max or Lewis, we will have a fantastic World Champion this year, which is the most important thing.”
Prost also believes Hamilton isn’t the fans’ favourite to reign supreme.
“Normally, the young guy has always an advantage because the fans want to see the young guy beat the old man,” Prost explained.
“But on the other side, you must recognise that what Lewis is doing, the way he can put the level of his performance where he needs, it’s fantastic.”
Hamilton, meanwhile, was criticised earlier in the season by Red Bull chief Christian Horner after he nearly crashed with Verstappen at Silverstone.
But in an interview with the BBC just days ago, the Mercedes star insisted he had ‘no regrets’.
“If you’re on the outside of a car, backing out is the sensible option pretty much all the time in order to see the end of the race,” he said.
“If you’re on the inside, there are scenarios where I truly believe I was in the right, [when] I’m almost wheel to wheel with the car.
“At Silverstone, for example. Go and look at the footage.
“My front wheel was alongside his front wheel, so it wasn’t like my wheel was next to his rear wheel going in.
“And in that scenario, if I had taken the approach [Max did] for example [in Brazil], just stayed on the gas and gone off track and then kept position, what would the scenario have been there? Would they have looked into the rules there?
“But anyways. I don’t mind being the one that… 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.
“And sometimes you lose points in doing that, for sure, but it’s not just about me.
“I have 2,000 people behind me and through that selfish decision I could make – ‘No, I’m going to hold my ground’ and don’t finish – that costs all my team potential bonuses at the end of the year, all the hard work they have to do, the damage of the car. I am conscious of those things also.”
He then added: “It has just been different scenarios.
“I wouldn’t say I have necessarily had to change my approach but I would say definitely there has been a need to gain points – and you have to get a little bit less willing to give up too much, because bit by bit you are losing more points as the season goes on. I was quite far behind in points at that time.”
“And sometimes you lose points in doing that, for sure, but it’s not just about me.
“I have 2,000 people behind me and through that selfish decision I could make – ‘No, I’m going to hold my ground’ and don’t finish – that costs all my team potential bonuses at the end of the year, all the hard work they have to do, the damage of the car. I am conscious of those things also.”
He then added: “It has just been different scenarios.
“I wouldn’t say I have necessarily had to change my approach but I would say definitely there has been a need to gain points – and you have to get a little bit less willing to give up too much, because bit by bit you are losing more points as the season goes on. I was quite far behind in points at that time.”
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