Zak Brown shares what Lewis Hamilton ‘said to himself’ during battle with Max Verstappen

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Max Verstappen’s tactics in his recent on-track battles with McLaren driver Lando Norris have given many observers flashbacks to the 2021 Formula 1 season. Back then, Lewis Hamilton was Verstappen’s chief adversary.

Hamilton and Verstappen engaged in an epic season-long battle battle for the title but they couldn’t keep it clean. There were multiple collisions between the two over the course of the year.

Most notably, Verstappen suffered a 51G impact at Silverstone after tangling with Hamilton at Copse corner. A couple of months later at Monza, the Red Bull dramatically mounted the halo on the Mercedes after a first-chicane incident.

The stewards deemed Hamilton at fault for the British GP clash, awarding him a 10-second penalty, while Verstappen earned a grid drop after the Italian GP. The punishments didn’t lead to more respectful racing, certainly on the Dutchman’s part.

Hamilton accused Verstappen of ‘brake testing’ him in Saudi Arabia. And then in Brazil, many drivers felt Verstappen deserved a penalty for running his title rival wide at turn four in defence of the lead.

The Interlagos clips resurfaced after last month’s US GP. Norris picked up a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, but McLaren felt Verstappen had dived into the corner too quickly and effectively forced him off.

Lewis Hamilton said ‘enough is enough’ when facing Max Verstappen tactics

Verstappen was roundly criticised after the second leg of the triple-header in Mexico. In the opinion of the stewards, he forced Norris off the track and then gained an unfair advantage within the space of five corners.

That led to two 10-second penalties, but the time loss likely denied Norris a shot at victory. Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, the McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said Verstappen must be shown the limit.

Brown says F1 should be looking to avoid a repeat of 2021, hinting that Verstappen manipulated the rules that year. This was certainly how Hamilton felt.

“Max is an incredible racing driver who pushes the rules to the limit,” Brown said. “But you have to show him where the limits are.

“If that isn’t done, you’ll end up with scenes like the one between Lewis and Max in 2021, when Lewis said to himself: enough is enough. I don’t think we want to go back to that.”

The Toto Wolff comments that show Zak Brown is completely right about Lewis Hamilton

Speaking before the race in Mexico, Hamilton said Verstappen has exploited a ‘grey area’ in the rules for ‘so long’. He may feel as if concerns weren’t properly addressed at the time.

Verstappen is the modern-day Michael Schumacher in that he tests the limit of the regulations. Particularly when a title is at stake, he’s more aggressive than any other driver on the grid.

Some of the drivers are on his side. Esteban Ocon came to Verstappen’s defence in Brazil, and Norris didn’t have unanimous support in the briefing after the events at Austin.

But the sport’s most successful driver will surely be on his side. Toto Wolff says Hamilton ‘decided’ he wouldn’t yield before the infamous Silverstone crash, echoing Brown’s comments about his refusal to back down.