"Come on the track and I'll eat you up" - Here's why Max Verstappen would like Lewis Hamilton's contract extension, according to Dutch racer

Dutch racing driver Tom Coronel claims Max Verstappen will be looking forward to Lewis Hamilton's rumored contract extension with Mercedes. The Dutch driver lauded the two for their brilliant and fierce on-track battles, leading to the growth of the sport in recent years.

Lewis Hamilton's F1 contract is set to expire at the end of 2023, but the world champion has claimed he wants to stick with Mercedes for a while longer. The Briton is desperately trying to win an eighth world championship, which will put him above Michael Schumacher for the most number of titles won by a single person in the sport. An extended stay in the sport, however, will lead to more frequent battles with his 2021 title rival Max Verstappen, who recently took his second title win in the sport.

Dutch racing driver Tom Coronel told the RN365 F1 podcast that he hopes Hamilton stays in the sport so that he can battle with Verstappen in the coming years. He also claims the 2022 F1 world champion probably feels the same way. Coronel said:

“That’s cool to look at. Let them fight it out on the track, not off the court. Then I just keep finding it neat. Outside the job, people are going to interfere with it or at least stoke a bit. We shouldn’t do that and Max doesn’t want that. He just says: come on the track and I’ll eat you up.”

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George Russell also looks forward to Lewis Hamilton's contract extension

George Russell is excited to race Lewis Hamilton in the future, as the Briton announced that he will be extending his contract. The Mercedes driver is looking forward to battling the seven-time world champion for years to come.

Commenting on the Mercedes champion’s contract extension, Russell said:

“Yeah, it’s really exciting to have that potential of Lewis staying on for a number of years to come. I think he has proven that he’s definitely not lifted his foot off the throttle pedal, and he’s definitely the last few races performing probably better than ever. And that’s really exciting for me to have the opportunity to be his teammate, to go directly head-to-head with him and grow on this journey that we’re on together because it really does feel like a journey that the two of us are on, along with the rest of the team, in trying to bring Mercedes back to winning ways. So yeah, I think we’ve got a really, really great relationship, transparent relationship and yeah, be great to be teammates for a number of years to come.”

Russell currently leads Lewis Hamilton by 15 points in the drivers' standings. With the seven-time world champion in better form than the former Williams driver at the moment, however, Russell is going to have to watch his back if he wants to make sure his teammate doesn't get the best of him in 2022.