Verstappen-Hamilton war of words escalates: “When he was winning…”
The old rivals clashed ahead of the F1 Austrian Grand Prix when Hamilton suggested the FIA impose a new deadline to limit teams working on the next year’s car, in an effort to level the playing field.
Red Bull have won every grand prix of 2023 and Verstappen is on course for a third straight F1 title, but he remembered a time when Mercedes and Hamilton were on top.
Verstappen said to Sky about Hamilton’s idea: “We weren’t talking about it when he was winning his championships, right?
“So I don’t think we should now.
“It’s how Formula 1 works. When you have a competitive car, it’s great.
“But at one point you also have to look ahead to the next year.
“It’s normal that people who are behind say these kinds of things.
“But they should also not forget when they were winning, how it was looking, and if people would comment on these things.
“Probably, they would comment differently.
“That’s how it goes in Formula 1.”
Hamilton’s suggestion was: "I think the FIA should probably put a time when everyone is allowed to start developing next year's car.
“Say August 1, that's where everybody can start so that no one can get an advantage on the next year, cause that sucks.
"It would make more sense. They should. Say for example you start the season and you know you have a bad car, you can just say I'm not going to bother developing this car and put all this money into next year's car and have an advantage.”
A reporter replied to Hamilton, telling him that Mercedes once enjoyed the same dominance that Red Bull are not experiencing.
“We never started as early as them,” Hamilton said about developing a car for the following season.
Mercedes won seven drivers’ titles in a row - six through Hamilton, one via Nico Rosberg - between 2014 and 2020.
Prior to that, Red Bull won four consecutively through Sebastian Vettel.
Fernando Alonso won twice in a row for Renault, directly after Michael Schumacher’s famous five consecutive titles with Ferrari.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
