Max Verstappen takes jab at Lewis Hamilton’s ex-Mercedes team-mate

Max Verstappen makes subtle dig at Lewis Hamilton in April

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Max Verstappen has taken a jab at Lewis Hamilton’s former team-mate Valtteri Bottas as he gave his thoughts on second drivers in F1. The Red Bull star suggested number two drivers must “accept their role” in a team and understand their colleagues are just “a bit better”. The reigning world champion then highlighted Bottas’ role at the Silver Arrows as an example of his beliefs.

Bottas’ title push always seemed to fall away as the Finn was left in a supporting role to Hamilton towards the crunch stage of a season. However, the former Williams star was still competitive in his own right and managed to bag himself wins and podiums on his day but never came close to beating Hamilton across a full year.

Verstappen told Viaplay: “Every year he starts fresh. But after a few races you realise it’s not going to happen again and you accept your role. He still finished on podiums, he won a few races and took pole positions.

“You just have to accept that the driver next to you is just a bit better. That’s fine, that can happen. It’s important that he accepted it. Some drivers can’t do that and then it goes completely wrong.

“Then they don’t survive for very long. I’m not going to name names, but you have to accept your role. You can’t live in a fairytale world.” Bottas came within 58 points of Hamilton in his debut season with the German marquee in 2017.

A year later he dropped over 150 points behind but brought the gap closer over his following three seasons in the team. Bottas almost gave Hamilton a scare in 2020, picking up victory in the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix and a podium a week later.

Although insisting he had no intentions to remain as Hamilton’s “number two driver” in 2017, Bottas was unable to beat the seven-time champion over a single season.

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He opened up on his struggles ahead of the 2022 campaign after switching to Alfa Romeo. He said: “When I joined Mercedes, it was difficult for me to take the lead because of Lewis being there.

“With him being in the team, it was always difficult for me to take that lead role.” Verstappen faces similarities at Red Bull with Sergio Perez eager to not fall into the Dutchman’s shadow.

Perez was just 15 points behind Verstappen after winning the Monaco Grand Prix, raising fears of a title battle between the pair. However, Perez’s challenge dropped off by mid-season after Verstappen’s dominant run to secure 15 wins over the course of the season.

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