Days after referring to Max Verstappen as a "dickhead", Lewis Hamilton claims that the youngster is letting his team down.

The Briton, has already claimed that the youngster's move on him at the start of the second lap in Bahrain, which ultimately led to the Red Bull driver's retirement, "lacked respect". While watching a replay of the incident in the ante room before heading out on to the podium, Hamilton gestured to the screen and said "he's just a dickhead".

Now the Briton has gone one further, saying that Verstappen's inexperience is costing his team valuable points.

"They have a car which should be getting good results," he said, "but through inexperience, or not mature decisions, they are not.

"Max should have had a decent race," he continued. "If Fernando was in their car, he would have got points for Red Bull. If I was in their car, I would have got points for Red Bull.

"I hope he is learning through these situations," added the Briton. "I went through that when I was younger so I know how it is. It is easy to get ahead of yourself and forget to respect the other guys that you are racing against."

Of course, one of the reasons Verstappen found himself battling Hamilton for ninth so early in the race was that both had started out of position, the Briton having been hit with a grid penalty for a change of gearbox, while the Dutchman crashed out in Q1 subsequently blaming the incident on a power surge.

No doubt Hamilton's various comments will put Verstappen in the perfect frame of mind for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by ESTM PRFT, 10/04/2018 23:42

"I don't particularly care for Maximus, but the king of bling should cut him some slack as he was only suckled at the teat of Yas Werestoppen as opposed to Ron Dennis."

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by jcr, 10/04/2018 22:05

"Nico must be having a great laugh at this, Some one who dos,nt back out, A new learning curve for H
ami !!"

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by Stitch431, 10/04/2018 19:48

"In this case, Lewis was just as much at fault as Max. Both of them did not back down. This time Max drew the ... card with a flat tire but it could have been Lewis just as well. These are two alpha males fighting it out on track and that is what we love to see. The fact that Lewis feels the need to talk so much about it shows he fears that Max might succeed the next time. I do not think it cool that he does so much whining off track. It is a weakness he has not shown for a while but he does this all the time when he feels threatened. As a matter of fact, this is a big compliment for Max!"

Rating: Positive (3) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by Oldbuzzard, 10/04/2018 17:58

"Just as I said yesterday in a post on this subject, Lewis has said it here. Inexperience and/or immaturity are causing the youngster to make mistakes. When he’s out front in clean air, he shows his potential as a winner. But, in traffic he shows his weakness. "

Rating: Negative (-2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

5. Posted by TorroVerde, 10/04/2018 13:51

"HAM has a fair point there.. recall that HAM lost the title in his rookie season with an overly aggressive move on ALO in Brazil. "

Rating: Negative (-1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

6. Posted by Joop deBruin, 10/04/2018 13:43

"Hammy's sure is despondent about the absence of his Bieber."

Rating: Positive (3) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

Hamilton twists the knife... to the Max

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page