F1 legend Lewis Hamilton’s ‘frustrations’ with ‘bullying’ Max Verstappen revealed

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Lewis Hamilton’s ‘frustrations’ with ‘bullying’ Max Verstappen revealed

Former F1 star Eddie Irvine has weighed in

Chris Deeley

Friday 3 April 2026 18:55 Updated: 20:13

Former F1 star Eddie Irvine has predicted fireworks between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli this year, and provided some insight into one of the best title fights in recent memory.

The former Ferrari star, who finished just two points shy of winning the 1999 world championship when with the Scuderia, brought up some historic comparisons when asked if he thinks there could be 'incidents' between the two Mercedes team-mates as they go mano-a-mano for the 2026 title.

The Northern Irish driver specifically raised Mercedes boss Toto Wolff's experience of similar high-stakes title fights, both when his drivers were fighting between themselves for the championship (Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in 2016) and when an external actor was involved (Hamilton and Max Verstappen in 2021).

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Both of those seasons involved contentious crashes between the title contenders, with Silverstone 2021 seeing Hamilton punt Verstappen off the track at high speed at Copse – something Irvine attributed to the Brit wanting to push back on his rival 'acting like a bully'.

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Irvine: Hamilton got frustrated with Verstappen

It appears near impossible for close title battles to avoid some element of controversy or team-mate hitting in recent years (who remembers Lando Norris running into the back of Oscar Piastri in Canada last year?) and Irvine predicted similar things to come in 2026.

"I'm 100 per cent sure of it," he said to La Gazzetta dello Sport. "The stakes are too high and the drivers have similar performances. Therefore, Toto Wolff can't intervene with team orders. He experienced very tense situations, when Lewis Hamilton battled with Nico Rosberg and then with Max Verstappen.

"On the latter occasion, there was a bad accident at Silverstone. I think the seven-time world champion, who is one of the cleanest drivers in history, was frustrated because the Dutchman was acting like a bully."

Antonelli leads the 2026 championship after just three grands prix, having passed his team-mate – who already appeared to be getting frustrated over team radio – in the standings at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	72
2	George Russell	Mercedes	63
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	49
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	41
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	25
6	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	21
7	Ollie Bearman	Haas	17
8	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	15
9	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	12
10	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	10
11	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	4
12	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	4
13	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	2
14	Carlos Sainz	Williams	2
15	Esteban Ocon	Haas	1
16	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	0
18	Alex Albon	Wiliams	0
19	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	0
20	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	0
21	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	0
22	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	0