Max Verstappen has said there are ‘no hard feelings’ over his shocking crash with Lewis Hamilton at the British Grand Prix last year, but has criticised Mercedes ‘moaning’.
The reigning world champion heads to Silverstone with a healthy championship lead over teammate Sergio Perez, but as last year proved, things can quickly change in Britain.
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The Dutchman had a similarly comfortable points advantage over Hamilton ahead of the Brit’s home race last season, until a jaw-dropping first lap collision.
The title contenders staged an epic battle through the first half of the opening lap, before neither gave way heading into Copse corner, which resulted in Hamilton clipping Verstappen’s rear wheel, sending him into the wall at 51G.
Verstappen went to hospital for precautionary checks, while Hamilton went on to celebrate a home win which his rival called ‘disrespectful and unsportsmanlike’.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said his team are ‘out for revenge this weekend’ but Verstappen didn’t agree with those sentiments.
“Of course, the crash wasn’t nice, but I love the track,” the Dutchman said.
“I love going there. It’s [a] really good atmosphere with Formula 1, and we’re going really quick around there.
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“So I don’t have any hard feelings. And I also think very easily I can put these things aside. Of course, it wasn’t nice what happened, but at the end of the day, you deal with it.
“It wasn’t a nice impact for me personally, but we go out there again and try to win of course.”
Verstappen was also asked about the prospect of being booed by the British crowd, like Hamilton’s former rivals Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel have been in the past.
“The good thing is, once we jump in the car with the helmet on, you don’t hear anything,” he answered.
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“And they love motorsport. I mean, it’s such a big history in England in general, right?”
Despite tensions seeming to have cooled between last year’s title rivals with Mercedes well off the pace this season, Verstappen did admit some frustrations over the Silver Arrows’ complaints.
New aerodynamic regulations for the 2022 season have seen cars bouncing on the straights, with Mercedes seemingly struggling more than any other constructor.
Both team boss Toto Wolff and Hamilton have described the W13 an ‘undrivable’ and are pushing for change, but Verstappen is one of many who are against that.
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Asked about the bouncing, the 24-year-old joked: “We love it, it’s so nice.
“Not every car, but quite a few cars on the straight they’re going like this [indicating bouncing with his hand], especially that beautiful grey car, silver car.
“Some teams have that more under control than others and when it happens at 300 [kph], it can be painful for some if it’s really aggressive.
“Especially one team have been moaning about it a lot so that’s why they will try to investigate it and try to understand how we can limit these things.
“This weekend will be the first try, how we can limit it for the drivers in terms of comfort, but it will be quite interesting to see if it changes up the performance between cars.”
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Source: TalkSport.com Motorsport
