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6 hours ago
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Lewis Hamilton has warned McLaren's title contenders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris about Max Verstappen's "cut-throat" character as the three head into the final five races of the season.
Piastri leads the championship by 14 points from Norris, while Verstappen is 40 points off the lead after three wins and a second place in the past four races.
Hamilton, who fought an intense and bitter championship battle with Verstappen in 2021, said: "In that scenario it's challenging, the pressure is high. It is a time when you have to put your blinkers up and block everything from the outside.
"You have to be cut-throat and that is what Max is, he is going to take this from them if they don't do the same.
"You have to dig deep to hold off someone like Max and the car he is in. But also for either of them to come out ahead, consistency is key, and you've seen that from Max in the last few races."
The seven-time champion said that Verstappen had the easiest job as the driver coming from behind - he was 104 points adrift of Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August.
"You have three incredibly talented drivers and I can't predict how they're going to behave," added Hamilton.
"Max has won it four times so he knows what it's like and being the hunter is much easier than being the defender.
"When you're in the lead and someone is chopping away at your lead, that plays on you more than if you're chasing and you have nothing to lose. In the lead you have everything to lose."
Mercedes driver George Russell, who won in Singapore two races ago, said: "The McLaren guys have the fastest car so it's theirs to lose. But Max and Red Bull are doing an amazing job so you can never discount them.
"They showed signs of great pace at the start of the year but it was pretty inconsistent, whereas now week in, week out they are smashing it."
The McLaren drivers go into the final five races free to race with each other and with no internal team rules hanging over them - other than not to crash with one another.
Norris had been facing undefined "repercussions" after colliding with Piastri while taking third place from him at the first sequence of corners in Singapore.
Following the crash between the two at the start of the sprint at the US Grand Prix last weekend, these have now been removed.
"There is a degree of responsibility from my side in the sprint and we are starting this weekend within a clean slate for both of us, just going out and going racing," said Piastri.
The Australian, who won at Zandvoort, has seen his lead erode after being beaten by Norris in each of the past four races, but he said he had also been surprised Verstappen had come into the equation so quicky.
"The run of form he's had since Monza has been a bit of a surprise," said Piastri.
"There were flashes earlier in the season but there were also some pretty big dips. We know they have been throwing a lot of things at their car trying to improve it but he has come to the fight quicker than I expected."
However, when asked if he was concerned about Verstappen, Piastri said: "It's not really something I think about. He has been consistent and strong the last few weekends but there is no benefit in worrying about or focusing on that.
"The thing that's going to help me win the championship is get the most out of myself, the car, the team. He's there, he's in the fight but ultimately it doesn't change how I go about my racing."
Norris added: "Max has had very good form the last month or so. They have been performing better than we have.
"He has won a good amount of races and he's Max Verstappen. You'd be silly if you didn't want to give Max a chance.
"At the minute, they are in better form, a lot of races they have been quicker. But we still have chances. We have a better car from now until the end of the season and we just have to make use of that."
Verstappen said: "It's clear we had a good run, definitely been enjoying it a lot more like that and we will try to carry that momentum forward. We know we need to be perfect to the end to have a chance, but we just try to maximise everything and see where we end up."
Red Bull were fined 50,000 euros (£43,500) after the US Grand Prix, when one of their team members was on the grid after it was supposed to be cleared because he was trying to remove the tape McLaren had put on the pit wall to help Norris park his car in the right place.
Norris said he found the situation "very amusing, especially because I didn't even use the tape, so even better".
He added: "I used it for back up. I didn't need to use it in Austin. We already knew that they were doing it. They tried to take tape off and failed - they failed and got a penalty. Pretty funny."
Piastri described Red Bull's actions as "gamesmanship", adding: "They're within their rights to do it. They were on the grid too late doing it. Everyone will have their own opinion on whether it's necessary or not."
Verstappen said: "We didn't get fined because of the tape. It is just a little silly thing that has been going on for a while and it is not something I pay a lot of attention to because I focus on my own parking in the box."
