It appears at present as though Lewis Hamilton and his boss are taking every opportunity to make jibes at Red Bull Racing expense. In the latest row over Helmut Marko’s alleged racist comments aimed at Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton was quick to point out the complete lack of Red Bull action against their consultant.

Despite Sergio Perez stating he was not offended by Marko’s trope which generalised the characteristics of South American people, Hamilton said “it is not acceptable” and claimed other teams would have “removed an individual”, adding with the barb it was “not how my team” would handle the matter.

Its questionable whether the comments by the Red Bull consultant can be considered racist as they were based on a generalisation of the habitants of an entire continent.

 

 

 

Hamilton starts war of words

Hamilton last time out in Monza decided to belittle the kind of competition ax Verstappen has had from his team mates, yet the British driver was almost unanimously criticised for his comments.

Further, less favourable comparisons were then drawn from other drivers and Jenson Button who beat Hamilton when driving for McLaren suggested he would “fear” Max Verstappen as  a team mate far more than Lewis Hamilton.

Toto Wolff joined the Hamilton led Mercedes attack on Verstappen claiming his historic run of ten consecutive victories was irrelevant and something just for “Wikipedia” which “nobody reads.”

In Singapore Max has responded to Wolff’s jibe claiming his obsession with all things Red Bull is extraordinary.

Hamilton/Verstappen united in FIA criticism

 

 

“We haven’t spoken since 2021” says Horner

“He almost sounds like he’s an employee of our team sometimes,” said the Dutch driver, adding “but luckily not.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner grinned when he heard of his drivers comment, confirming jokingly Wolff was definitely not on the payroll.

“We haven’t spoken since 2021,” he revealed to Corriere della Sera newspaper, “so all is well.”

Max also had a response to Lewis’ criticism of the quality of team mates he’s faced during his time with Red Bull.

Verstappen “feared more” than Lewis says Button

 

 

Verstappen mocks Hamilton qualifying efforts

“It’s not nice of Hamilton towards the teammates I had, but it is ironic that after that interview of his in Monza, many of my teammates were ahead of him in qualifying,” joked Verstappen.

Hamilton and Mercedes had a poor weekend in Monza and the British driver was eclipsed in qualifying by both Sergio Perez and the now Williams driver Alex Albon.

“I am not focused on others, but on my own performance,” continued Verstappen. “I respect the dominance of others and Lewis’ past titles. In my opinion, it doesn’t have to be about other people’s teammates.

“Maybe there is a little jealousy. Maybe it’s nice for Netflix. None of it really matters to me. I sleep wonderfully,” the championship leader added.

Ricciardo slammed by former F1 champion

 

 

Red Bull say Ferrari ‘main competiton’

Given he is dominating this years championship, Max says he is relaxed and Hamilton’s comments won’t affect his approach to this weekend in Singapore.

“I don’t lose sleep over it,” he added. “I do my thing here, go home again after the weekend, do my thing there and then I don’t have much to do with Formula 1.”

Both Verstappen and Dr. Marko have highlighted they believe Ferrari will be their main concern at the street race in the city state.

Charles Leclerc was flattered by the comments stating, “It’s nice to get praise from our opponents – it’s nice to read. But it’s not really true.

Hamilton not in F1 all time top 2, says ex-team mate

 

 

FP1 dominated by Ferrari

“I assume Red Bull will be the benchmark here too,” he added.

At the revised Singapore circuit where four corners have been removed while construction is taking place, Ferrari were indeed the quickest with Leclerc topping the time sheets a mere 78/1000ths ahead of Sainz. Verstappen was a tenth further back as the world champion complained over a number of niggling issues with his RB19.

Lando Norris was next a further half a tenth back with his McLaren MCL60 sporting 12 new upgrades. His team mate Oscar Piastri will have to wait until next time out in Japan for his car to receive the full upgrade.

Piastri was over two seconds behind Leclerc, though he’s never raced in Singapore and was initially fitted with an aero rake for the team to perform analysis.

Mercedes set to block Red Bull record

 

 

Horner questioned over Marko comments

Hamilton and Russell were next ahead of Perez in 7th, though the pace of the Ferrari cars with their strong traction characteristics out of slow corners will be a concern. 

Further the pace of Lando Norris may suggests the former world champion team’s cars may be fighting for the minor points on Sunday.

Following the session Christian Horner was questioned by Sky about the comments made by Dr. Marko.

“Those comments weren’t right and Helmut quickly recognised that and apologised,” said Horner.

“Your always learning in life even obviously at 80 years of age.”

Red Bull fascinating U-Turn

 

 

Red Bull say sanctions are for FIA

Christian confirmed Helmut had spoken with the Red Bull driver:

“He’s obviously spoken to Sergio…… Look, this is his 250th race and we want to focus on that.”

When asked why the team had not issued a statement or taken action against Dr. Marko for his breach of the FIA code, Horner replied:

“Obviously from Helmut’s perspective he’s apologised,” said Horner. “He’s not an employee of Red Bull Racing so in terms of why didn’t we put out a statement, he’s part of the Red Bull wider group and the group obviously issued that apology through the Servus TV channel.”

“Helmut is technically an employee of the group so its not a question for me.”

On the issue of Lewis Hamilton’s demands for Marko to be sanctioned, the Red Bull chief revealed they had spoken with the FIA during the week and the matter for any sanctions sits with them.

READ MORE: Hamilton “didn’t build anything” says Alonso

When @Max33Verstappen came "face-to-face with Godzilla" 🦖👀

This cheeky monitor lizard couldn't resist getting up close to the action on the streets a few years back#SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZQRgSabgZo

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2023