Verstappen disagrees with Hamilton over F1 competition

The Red Bull driver is enjoying a period of domination in F1 amid his seemingly unstoppable charge towards a third consecutive world title. 

Verstappen has won 10 of the opening 12 races so far this year and heads into this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix as the outright favourite to claim yet another victory. 

Hamilton recently rejected claims that he’s been hypocritical over his complaints of Verstappen and Red Bull’s dominance given he benefitted from years of Mercedes success. 

The seven-time world champion stressed that he always wanted “the best competition” when he was at the front, but Verstappen has a different view. 

"I’d rather have a very straightforward race all the time but that only happens maybe once or twice in your career in a year, like you have a season like that,” The Dutchman said. 

“But again we’re racing drivers, the teams are a lot closer, and for me that’s also fine. But for me it’s a bit more relaxing to win it more comfortably.” 

Verstappen, who has won both races in Zandvoort since the venue returned to the calendar, is focused on continuing his victorious run to maintain Red Bull’s invincible start to 2023. 

“Just try to keep on doing the same thing, that would be nice,” Verstappen said of his objectives going into the second half of the season after the summer break.

“Of course after a break you never know how you get back into things, also the track and the weather that is forecast is always a bit more tricky. 

“We’ll see. We have a good car, again it’s about putting everything together to have a good weekend.” 

Verstappen added: “It’s one of my favourite places to be and to win of course is always very special here so for sure that’s a target for the weekend.”