{"id":297984,"date":"2023-12-13T10:53:58","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T10:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=297984"},"modified":"2023-12-13T10:53:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T10:53:58","slug":"christian-horner-confirms-lewis-hamiltons-max-verstappen-suspicions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/racing\/f1\/christian-horner-confirms-lewis-hamiltons-max-verstappen-suspicions\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Horner confirms Lewis Hamilton’s Max Verstappen suspicions"},"content":{"rendered":"
Red Bull chief Christian Horner has confirmed Lewis Hamilton’s suspicion that Max Verstappen “hasn’t broken a sweat” all season by suggesting that the Dutchman could have ‘pushed harder’ this year.<\/p>\n
Verstappen was utterly dominant in 2023, winning 19 out of 22 Grand Prixs. The Red Bull star became the first driver to break the coveted 500-point barrier and won the Drivers’ Championship title by a landslide 290 points.<\/p>\n
Seven-time world champion Hamilton, knows all too well how it feels to be on top of the grid, and spoke from a place of nostalgia as he poured praise onto Verstappen and Red Bull in his post-season review.<\/p>\n
“You watch the Red Bull, and it does everything well. It looks very similar to my 2020 car, characteristic-wise. Super-stable. They are firing on all cylinders. It looks like it\u2019s in that kind of window like we used to have, which for a driver is a dream because then you can really extract your own personal abilities to the max,”\u00a0Hamilton told The Race.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t think we have ever really truly pushed them\u2026 maybe Austin we were the closest but even then I think they still always had a tenth or two on us at the bare minimum.”<\/p>\n
“You go through lap times and some of the data from Max [Verstappen], and you can see he is chilling at the front more often than not,” he added. “I don\u2019t think he has broken a sweat during the year.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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