Lewis Hamilton gives blunt answers when asked about Lando Norris and Max Verstappen crash

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton didn't seem in the mood to discuss the rivalry between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen when asked about the pair ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix

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Jack Otway

By Jack Otway


Published: 04/07/2024

- 15:38

The seven-time F1 champion has opened up ahead of the British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton didn't seem in the mood to discuss the rivalry between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen when asked about the pair ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix.

Both Norris and Verstappen were involved in a crash last weekend while performing at the Austrian Grand Prix, with the former forced to withdraw from the race.


Norris was livid in the aftermath, saying he would potentially 'lose respect' for Verstappen if he didn't front up and take the blame.

Verstappen then insisted there wasn't much he could do and the two men have since buried the hatchet.

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton didn't seem in the mood to discuss the rivalry between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen when asked about the pair ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix

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Hamilton had a fierce rivalry with Verstappen earlier in his career.

But, when asked for his thoughts about F1's new power struggle, the Briton didn't seem keen to get involved.

"Nothing really. I didn’t think anything," he said.

"I was more concerned about my race and enjoying the team’s [Mercedes’] win."

When asked if he had any advice for Norris, Hamilton again opted to respond in blunt fashion.

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"Again, I don’t think I need to," he said.

"They have raced each other for many years. It’s nothing to do with me."

As for Norris, the McLaren star has backtracked on his previous comments.

He insists Verstappen didn't need to apologise - and also believes he was running on adrenaline at the time of his comments.

"Max has a very different way of racing compared to a lot of the others," he said.

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"That’s some of the reason of why he’s a champion.

"We did [speak]. Honestly, I don’t think he needed to apologise.

'Some of the things I said in the pen after the race were more just because I was frustrated at the time, a lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotions and I probably said some things I didn’t necessarily believe in, especially later on in the week.

"It was tough. It was a pretty pathetic incident in terms of what ended both our races.

"It wasn’t like a hit, it wasn’t like an obvious bit of contact. It was probably one of the smallest bits of contact you could have, but with a pretty terrible consequence for both of us, especially for myself.

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Max Verstappen Lando Norris

Lewis Hamilton refused to provide much insight on the crash between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen

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"He doesn’t need to. I don’t expect an apology from him.

"I don’t think he should apologise. I thought it was, as reviewed, good racing, at times maybe very close to the edge, but like I said we’ve spoken about it and we’re both happy to go racing again."

Norris also says Verstappen didn't want to crash on purpose - and can't see his nemesis 'changing too much'.

"I think it was still very clear that it was happening, but it’s a tricky one," added the 24-year-old.

"Max isn’t going to want to crash, he isn’t going to want to ruin his own race and his own chances.

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton will be hoping to win the British Grand Prix this weekend

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"I think yes, there are definitely things I need to do slightly differently but in the end of it, I don’t think he’s going to change too much, I don’t think I need to change too much.

"Could we have avoided the crash? Definitely, because I easily could have used more kerb.

"But there’s things from both sides that I’m sure we wanted to do better or in a slightly different way, but on the whole, I think avoiding an incident from moving under braking is probably the biggest part of it.

"There could very easily be an incident that comes from such a thing and I think the only thing we have to be very careful of is something that could happen. So that’s just something for the future and something that the stewards and FIA need to be aware of, that something could easily go wrong.

"So I think to a certain point, you’re defending, you’re being aggressive and that’s ok, but there will be a point when there is a limit and I think that just needs to be defined in a slightly better way."

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