Damon Hill lays into Max Verstappen's style of racing with latest remark

Damon Hill has doubled down on his criticism of Max Verstappen's driving style, claiming that some of the antics are "just not racing." The Dutch driver's aggressive style has sometimes become a primary source of argument against him. Just like any of the F1 legends in the past, Verstappen has been known as someone who tends to operate within the grey areas of racing.

This was quite prominent in 2021 when Verstappen battled with Lewis Hamilton for the title. Even at that time, the former was under constant criticism and questions from the British media. Hill was one of the more vocal voices, even then, who questioned the Dutch driver's approach.

These questions resurfaced in 2024 when Max Verstappen was embroiled in a title battle with Lando Norris. Questions were raised because of a few incidents in Austin and Mexico where things went over the limit.

Damon Hill was questioned about the Dutch driver on the High Performance Podcast and how he races, to which the F1 legend reiterated his stance against the manner in which Max Verstappen has gone about his racing.

Talking about how running people off track was not racing, Hill said:

"Running people clean off the track just to stop someone from passing. It is not racing. It's not racing. It's simply, it's dodgems or whatever you wanna call it. We want to see skill. We want to see skill and daring. We want it to be surgically done, not bludgeon. You know, you don't take a, a mallet to something, you just, we wanna see it done with a rapier, you know, you wanna see it clean, done."

He added:

"Effectively done and beautifully done. You can't have a free for all. You have to have someone saying, 'okay we want to see racing, but we don't want it going beyond certain bounds.' You know, you have rules in every sport."

Max Verstappen right up there with the greats

Damon Hill was, however, complimentary of the Dutch driver, as he ranked him among some of the greatest to have raced in F1. Crediting Max Verstappen as someone who is right up there with other legends, Hill felt that the Dutch driver was a phenomenon, just like Fangios, Clarks, Sennas, and Schumachers, which was a rare breed. He said:

"Right up there, no question."

He added:

"Possibly. I mean, in terms of his effectiveness, in terms of his preparedness, his maturity, his speed. He's a phenomenon and there are very few phenomena. They are the ones that we know of, the Fangios, Jim Clarks, the Sennas and the Michael Schumachers.”

Max Verstappen's driving style has always had its critics, and that is certainly not going to change now. The same was, however, the case with the drivers Damon Hill mentioned as some of the greats, as Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher were also notorious for not giving an inch to their rivals.