Lewis Hamilton blasts Sergio Perez's 'dangerous' driving as Max Verstappen hails Red Bull teammates as a 'legend'

The Mexican helped his teammate enormously in Abu Dhabi (Pictures: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton accused Red Bull’s Sergio Perez of ‘dangerous driving’ while Max Verstappen branded his teammate a ‘legend’ after the Mexican held up the seven-time champ in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.


The two title rivals were level on points going into the final race of a pulsating and often dramatic season, with the younger Dutchman starting at the front of the grid after a blistering flying lap in qualifying on Saturday.


But his advantage did not last long, with Hamilton making the faster start off the line and beating Verstappen – who was on soft tyres – into the first turn.




F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi

There was yet more drama between Verstappen and Hamilton (Picture: Getty)

But the Red Bull driver was never going to give up the lead easily and quickly tried to beat Hamilton down the inside a few corners later, with the Brit running off the track and returning with his lead still intact.


Red Bull felt he should be required to give the place back but the stewards ruled it a racing incident, with Hamilton going on to open up a healthy lead before Verstappen boxed – and Mercedes quickly followed suit.


That left the seven-time champ needing to chase down ‘Checo’ Perez in the other Red Bull, with the Mexican told to revert to ‘Plan B’: namely, hold up Hamilton.


When Hamilton caught up with Perez the two engaged in a nerve-jangling tussle in which they traded places several times and Verstappen managed to gain five seconds in a single lap, closing back up on his rival.


The Brit did not seem too happy with Perez, though, saying over the team radio: ‘That’s some dangerous driving!’




He did eventually manage to overtake the Mexican, but the Red Bull driver had done enough to slow Hamilton up and get his teammate back within touching distance again.


‘Checo is a legend,’ yelled Verstappen over the radio, with team principle Christian Horner agreeing: ‘Absolute animal!’


Mercedes were not too happy about Perez’s driving as he prevented Hamilton from overtaking, but race director Michael Massi declared it ‘hard racing’ and the reigning champ quickly retook control of the race and opened up another gap over Verstappen as the championship goes down to the wire.




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