Back in 2018, Sebastian Vettel defended Lewis Hamilton for calling Max Verstappen a ‘d**khead’. This reaction came from a bold move made by the young Dutchman on the then-four-time world champion on the track.

The incident took place in the 2018 F1 Bahrain GP. Though Verstappen started the race several places below Hamilton, the Dutchman overtook several backmarkers amid the chaotic first lap of the race.

In the second lap, the Red Bull driver’s charge continued as he tried to overtake Hamilton. On the start-finish straight, they went wheel-to-wheel and made contact.

Due to this collision, Verstappen suffered a puncture, while Hamilton continued to push further forward. Despite pitting for fresh tires, the Dutch driver had to retire from the race.

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The battle came on while the drivers watched the replay in the cooldown room after the GP. The third-placed Brit called Verstappen a ‘d**khead’, while race winner Vettel was also present.

A Dutch reporter asked Hamilton to address his comment in the post-race press conference. Right after the question was asked, Vettel jumped in to answer the question and defended the Mercedes driver.

The then-Ferrari driver explained that anyone can swear in the heat of the moment, simply because F1 drivers usually have a lot of adrenaline rushing through their body during races. He then disregarded the question and criticized that the media would make up stories out of it.

“Can I answer that? I think it’s not fair. I mean, I don’t know what Lewis did. We’ve all been in that situation, we fight someone, we go sometimes wheel-to-wheel, it’s close and you have a lot of adrenaline going,” Vettel answered.
“I don’t think it’s justified to give us these kind of s*** questions and making up a story out of nothing, if we are just racing and we are full of adrenaline and sometime we say these things.”

Lewis Hamilton believes Max Verstappen’s maneuver was too harsh and silly
After Sebastian Vettel defended Lewis Hamilton for swearing at Max Verstappen, the Mercedes driver gave his take on his wheel-to-wheel battle with the Dutchman in the 2028 F1 Bahrain GP.

In the post-race press conference, Hamilton felt that the collision between him and Verstappen was unnecessary. The Brit said that the Red Bull driver’s overtaking move was not respectful enough and was too aggressive.

“I had a coming together with Max and it was an unnecessary collision. There needs to be a certain respect between drivers and ultimately… maybe I need to go and watch the maneuver again, but it didn’t feel like a respectful maneuver, but ultimately it was a silly maneuver for himself because he didn’t finish the race,” Hamilton said.
That year, Hamilton won his fifth world championship with Mercedes, while Verstappen finished fourth in the standings.

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Edited by Aayush Kapoor