Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Verstappen overtaking approach not for Hamilton

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Lewis Hamilton says he does not like to plan his overtaking manoeuvres to make sure other drivers do not know what to expect.

The Mercedes driver has often been leading from the front this season, but had to climb through the field after mistakes in Hungary and also recovered from the pit lane to third place in the same race last season. Max Verstappen has been one of the most exciting drivers to watch in terms of overtaking this season, and revealed after the Belgian Grand Prix he had already works on certain passing moves ahead of each race.

When asked about Verstappen's approach to overtaking, with the 17-year-old having practiced manoeuvres - such as his pass on Felipe Nasr at Blanchimont at Spa - in simracing before executing it, Hamilton says it's not something he would try.

"I am more of an edge of my seat driver," Hamilton said. "I like freestyling when I am out there. None of my overtaking manoeuvres are the same as another, I like the spontaneity of an overtake. You never know when it will happen.

"You can try and plan ahead, but if you look at my career and some of the overtaking spots I have decided to do, which people don’t expect… I don’t like planning things. I like arriving and not knowing where I will do it and it makes it more exciting for me. I think as a new generation there may be a different way to do it."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.