Last Updated on October 19 2024, 6:11 pm

The Formula One drivers’ title race this year has not seen the intensity of the 2021 battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, yet as the run in to the season finale begins the world champion is deploying mind games in his duel with Lando Norris.

The epic 2021 battle between Red Bull Racing and Mercedes was as much about the off track politics as it was the hard fought racing on track. Yet the mind games between the participants was ever present, non more so than in the drivers’ cool down room after the chequered flag.

Whether the race winner was to be Lewis or Max, they would often delay their return to the cool down room to make the other wait just to assert mental control.

 

 

 

Hamilton v Verstappen mind games

But the season exploded following Lewis Hamilton taking out Max Verstappen at the British Grand Prix. The British driver was held responsible by the stewards as he clipped the back of the Red Bull at Copse Corner sending Verstappen flying through the gravel at 180mph into the barrier.

Max returned the favour later in Monza, when he attempted a move around the outside of the Mercedes at the first chicane. The rear of the Red Bull car ended up on top of Lewis’ halo, with the wheels still spinning as Verstappen climbed out of his car unscathed.

The modern day rivalry and mind games between Hamilton and Verstappen has been likened to that of Schumacher and Hill, where the German sought to dominate his rival at every opportunity. Michael would wait to first go out when the track had cleared up during a practice session, slip on a new set of tyres and low fuel and lay down a time that made everyone sit up and pay attention.

Hamilton began his mind games with Vertsappen long before the Dutch driver was capable of winning a championship. Lewis’ rhetoric in press conferences would often try to paint the young hotshot Dutch driver as ‘hot headed.’

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Verstappen channels mind games

“I always leave Max a lot of space,” was a favourite of Hamilton’s sending the subliminal message that Max was reckless and must be navigated with caution. This was reinforced during another infamous 2021 press conference when Lewis joked to Sebastian Vettel, “I thought at some stage I’d get torpedoed by Max.”

Performance psychologist Tom Bates wrote, “that the objective of mind games is to distract and derail, a skill at which both Schumacher and Verstappen excelled during the heat of their championship battles. For these champions, the mind is as vital a tool as their race car,” Bates adds.

Tom also believes Schumacher and Verstappen were fundamentally different. The German would be the agent provocateur in any attempt at mind games while Max is more of the kind of individual whose motivation to improve his own performance, ‘the more my opponent plays mind games with me.’ 

Bates’ concludes, “His rise to prominence, consecutive championship triumphs, and ongoing title pursuit underscore his capacity to channel these mind games into enhanced on-track performance.”

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Max taunts Oscar Piastri

Of course back in 2021 Max was the ‘new kid’ trying to retire a great champion, he was the hunter not the hunted, but all that has changed. Now with three consecutive F1 world titles under his belt, it is McLaren and Lando Norris who are seeking to dethrone Verstappen from his pedestal.

Red Bull and Max are feeling the heat from McLaren who now lead the world champions by 41 points in the constructors’ standings and are propelling Norris forward to claim his maiden F1 championship.

Could it be the fact Verstappen is now the hunted which has switched things around and provoked him to deploy mind games in McLaren’s direction. Max suggests due to Oscar Piastri’s inexperience, he will fold when issued with team orders to assist Norris.

“For me it’s easy to talk”, begins Verstappen. “Of course, because I’ve been in Formula 1 for 10 years and it’s Oscar’s second season, so it is always harder to put your foot down.

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Oscar responds

“But he’s just a great F1 driver who doesn’t deserve it to give up wins and positions and play second fiddle because he’s asked to.

“For me he’s definitely not [a number 2 driver],” added Verstappen, “and if I was him I would never accept it.” Max was asked during the inconsequential Sau Paulo Grand Prix in 2022 to give up his sixth place for his team mate one slot behind. The Dutch driver growled back over team team radio, “Don’t ever ask me that again.”

Oscar Piastri has now responded to Verstappen’s baiting of him and McLaren. “Personally I think Max is a pretty straightforward guy. He says what he thinks,” Piastri told assembled media in Austin. “So I think in my position I don’t see it as being a number one, number two.”

The young Aussie points to Baku where he won the race with ease, yet of course at no time in Azerbaijan was Piastri in the position to help his team mate or receive the dreaded team orders.

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McLaren ‘no number one’

Next time out in Singapore it was Norris who was leading the field home with a season breaking winning margin, while Piastri was third over 42 seconds behind the winner.

Now in Austin it appears McLaren for now have been saved the blushes of a ‘Oscar, Lando is faster than you’ at least for the sprint. Piastri had a disastrous qualifying and will start the shortened version of the Grand Prix down in sixteenth place.

For now its easy to say, but Piastri acknowledges Verstappen’s praise. “I appreciate his [Verstappen’s] support but it’s not really how I view it.”

He goes on to highlight the up coming circuits are those he has only driven once in F1 and were not the most successful of last season.

“In Austin, I did five laps in the race, so I just have a lot of things to improve and figure out. But definitely just trying to improve and finish as high as I can. I think naturally if I do a good enough job then that’ll be firstly giving myself a good result.

“But if it’s a position to help Lando then that works as well, If the car’s capable of winning, which we hope it will be, then I want to try and win”, concludes Piastri.

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Hamilton ‘lost pole’ says Mercedes boss

Lewis Hamilton is entering his final six race weekends with life long sponsor Mercedes before his high profile move to Ferrari for 2025. The team and their seven times F1 champion driver have stated they want to go out on a high and improvements in the W15 suggest there is a realistic chance of more race wins to add to the three Mercedes scored in the four Grand Prix before the summer break.

The Mercedes pair have been closely matched on points for most of the season, with Russell ahead of his team mate mostly until the events of Spa Francorchamp. Despite winning the race, Russell was disqualified for his car being underweight handing the victory to Hamilton and creating a swing of 32 points between the pair.

George is currently nineteen points behind his team mate and whilst titles are to of reach for the silver arrows this season, the intra team battle between the drivers will rage until the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi… READ MORE