Lewis Hamilton advises Max Verstappen to act like a champion

Max Verstappen was advised to ‘act like a champion’ by rival Sir Lewis Hamilton after the Red Bull star responded strongly to criticism.

The reigning Formula 1 champion faced heavy criticism for his actions on and off the track during last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

He was criticised for illegally overtaking Lando Norris at the start and colliding with Hamilton in the closing stages, but more so for not accepting any responsibility for the two incidents.

Most notably, Verstappen unleashed an angry and expletive-laden tirade over his team radio, criticising Red Bull’s strategy, which shocked many pundits.

Commentator David Croft suggested a lack of sleep was to blame for his attitude, as Verstappen had stayed up until 3am the night before the grand prix to play sim racing.

In response to those who echoed this, Verstappen told reporters: "They can all f**k off’.

Asked how Verstappen could better deal with his new-found situation, Hamilton told reporters ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix: "You have to be a team leader, a team member.

"Maybe not such a leader, but just always remember you are a team-mate to a lot of people. You have to act like a world champion not like it was last weekend," he added.

In the lead-up to Belgium, Red Bull's management disclosed that they had prohibited Verstappen from staying up late to sim race on grand prix weekends.

However, it appears that the 26-year-old intends to disregard both his team and Hamilton,

"We talked about it. There is no other sim race coming up anyway, so no one needs to worry about that." Verstappen said.

"So no, it’s not that I have a ban or whatever. I also don’t need to tell them what they do in their private time and during the weekends, and that’s the same to me.

"It’s always when you don’t win the race, [people] will blame it on, 'Ahh, he’s staying up until 3am or he’s being one kilo overweight'. There are always things to make up that you can argue about when you’re not winning a race.

"I’ve been doing this since 2015. I’m a three-time world champion. I think I know what I can and cannot do.

"Now suddenly because I have one race where things don’t quite work out, these things are brought up by some people. I think I’m professional enough to know when it’s appropriate or not," he concluded.

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