daniel chigunwe
LONDON. — Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen shook hands after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix but the gloves are now well and truly off between Formula One rivals Mercedes and Red Bull as the championship enters the final straight.
As Hamilton celebrated his 101st win, and possibly the greatest race of his F1 career to revive his hopes of a record eighth world title, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff vented his feelings.
The Austrian spoke of Hamilton’s ‘’harsh’’ disqualification from Friday’s qualifying and the stewards ‘laughable’ decision not to penalise Verstappen when the Dutch driver “forced” the champion off the road on Sunday as he tried to overtake. His sense of injustice was palpable, as well as the feeling that Mercedes were fighting forces greater than Red Bull even as Hamilton closed the gap to Verstappen to 14 points with three races remaining. “The team has always been together but these decisions have brought us so close together,” said Wolff.
“It’s against us and I think this is what Lewis felt all his life and we now feel it together as a team and we’re going to fight. And we are not going to be the victims. That is the emotion we’re feeling in the garage at the moment.” — AFP.
Online Reporter