Brigit Adongo
Twelve points behind the leader with five meetings left to end the season, many would think that Hamilton is ready to do anything possible to snatch back the lead and become a record-setting eight-time F1 champion.
Mercedes team principal and CEO Toto Wolff, in a recent interview, suggested a possible collision to sway the results should Hamilton and Verstappen’s title fight drag on to the last race.
“…whoever is in front is absolutely going to try and do the same as in the Senna-Prost years,” Toto said, citing Senna’s deliberate collision with Prost for the title in 1989.
But Mercedes’ number one driver doesn’t second Wolff’s thoughts. Lewis Hamilton wants to lift a record eighth title fairly, and would rather lose to Verstappen than play dirty for a win. “I have never won a championship in that way and would never want to,” Hamilton firmly stated.
Despite having a couple of clashes with his main rival this year, Hamilton maintains that he will either win or lose the right way, and will accept either result as long as he knows that he did it with dignity and gave his best.
“…I always want to win in the right way…you lose it in the right way also: with dignity and knowing that…you’ve worked as hard as you could,” the defending champion stated.
Ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, the odds are in favor of Verstappen, who is seeking his first championship this season. But his 36-year old rival, Hamilton, no matter the result, wants to race with “sheer skill and determination and hard work.”
