MEXICO CITY: 2021 Formula One championship protagonists Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have shrugged off comments made by Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff which suggested that a repeat of the Senna-Prost rivalry is on the cards.
The legendary rivalry had numerous flashpoints including at the infamous 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, in which Senna collided with his French teammate at Suzuka to try and sway the title fight in his own favour.
Recently, Mercedes boss Wolff told the Daily Mail newspaper: “If it was to come to the scenario of the last race in Abu Dhabi and they [Hamilton and Verstappen] were to be racing each other for the title, whoever is in front is absolutely going to try to do the same as in the Senna-Prost years.”
But at Mexico, on Thursday, Hamilton responded to a question paraphrasing Wolff’s comments. He said, as per formula1.com: “I haven’t read what Toto said but I highly doubt he would insinuate that would ever be the case.”
“We’ve never won a championship in that way; I have never won a championship in that way and would never want to. So, that’s from my perspective, my point of view: I’m here to win in the right way and that’s through sheer skill and determination and hard work.”
The championship leader, Max Verstappen, who is 12 points ahead of Hamilton going into this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix said he wasn’t giving any thought to Wolff’s comments.
“I don’t really think about previous historic fights between two drivers, what they have done – that’s the past. I just focus on what I have to do on track and that’s to try and do the best I can, and that’s how at the end of the day you’re going to win the championship: you have to try and get the most available points out there and of course try to beat your rival,” said Verstappen.
Notably, there have been flashpoints between Hamilton and Verstappen in this year’s campaign too, with the pair coming together at Silverstone and Monza, while they battled wheel-to-wheel at Imola and Bahrain earlier in the season too.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, at which Hamilton and Verstappen have won two Grands Prix apiece since 2016, is regarded as a track that suits Red Bull – and Hamilton could face an uphill battle as he stares down a 12-point deficit to Verstappen in the title race.
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