Lewis Hamilton couldn't resist a thinly-veiled dig at his 2021 rival Max Verstappen as he reacted to a tight wheel-to-wheel battle with Charles Leclerc at the British Grand Prix.
Hamilton and Verstappen were engaged in a title dogfight throughout last year and, on several occasions, that led to some on-track fireworks. The Brit regularly accused his rival of being overly-aggressive as the season went on.
But it was Verstappen who suffered the heavy crash this time last year, when his Red Bull flew off the track at Copse following contact with the Mercedes and smashed into the barrier in a huge 51g impact. At the same corner this year, Hamilton had another tense tussle – this time with Leclerc.
Fortunately, it was a close but fair duel as they battled wheel-to-wheel. It was Hamilton who got the better of his opponent in the end, securing the third and final spot on the podium after a breathless final few laps of the race.
Reacting to that battle, Hamilton did not mention Verstappen by name – but did take a swipe at the Red Bull man. "Charles did a great job," said the Brit. "What a great battle. "[He's] a very sensible driver, clearly a lot different to what I experienced last year.
"Around Copse, for example, two of us went through there no problem. But what a battle. We had to have the tyre deficit in order to get past him but a really, really amazing weekend."
The result at Silverstone was more evidence that Mercedes are getting closer to Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of performance this year. Toto Wolff said after the race that they are now "flirting" with the car, after what seemed to be a successful test of their new upgrades for the W13.
After back-to-back podiums, Hamilton declared that his team is now "on the turning point". He added: "We're still in the bend but a big improvement from the car.
"We've still got work to do but a big thank you to the team for all the upgrades this weekend. We need more, naturally. We have to keep pushing, we have to stay positive and it's great to be back in the fight."
