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Lewis Hamilton feels there is a very thin line to walk when managing a father-son relationship in F1, referencing Max Verstappen and his father Jos.
The last couple of months have been captivating for fans in terms of off-track drama. It all began with Red Bull revealed it had started an internal investigation against Christian Horner.
Even after Christian Horner was exonerated from the internal investigation, two other major events made things worse for Red Bull. The first was the leak of the alleged evidence in the investigation.
The evidence was sent to hundreds of journalists in the F1 paddock, the FIA, and the FOM. Following that, Max Verstappen's father came out and called for Christian Horner's resignation.
This sparked a debate on both sides as many questioned the capacity in which Jos Verstappen was making those comments, while others wondered how bad the situation was at Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton weighed in on the situation of fathers getting involved in their son's career and from his own experience felt that there was always a 'thin line to walk'. As quoted by PlanetF1, he said:
“I think it is a very thin line to walk. I think it’s also dependent on your relationship with your parent. You meet some people who have a great relationship with their parents, and they’ve been amazing parents, and then you’ve got people that have had bad relationships. And this is not necessarily parents that have been good to them. So I don’t know about his [Verstappen’s] relationships."
He added:
"Obviously, you hear things here and there. But Max is a grown man, and he’s a champion, and I’m sure he can make his own decisions. But I think in our world, as drivers, it’s very, very easy to be misled by people whispering in your ear, and perhaps not guiding you always the right way. I’m not saying it’s the case there, because they’re doing great."
Lewis Hamilton also touched upon how handling something like this can be tricky, especially since managing both the professional and personal sides of things can be a concern. Talking to the media, he said:
“But I know in sports, other athletes that I’ve spoken to that I see, whether it’s in tennis, and I’ve experienced it, when you sometimes don’t have the right guidance around you, it leads to you either making the wrong decisions, or not being able to perhaps be the best at what you do."
He added:
"But that’s obviously clearly not the case there, he’s performing well. So it is very difficult, because you want your parent to be your parent, and have a good relationship. But when business is involved, it makes it really difficult.”
Max Verstappen addresses comments made by Jos Verstappen
Max Verstappen faced the media on Wednesday and addressed the comments made by his father. Talking about how Jos can be very outspoken, the Dutch driver backed him, saying he was not a 'liar'.
Max Verstappen further emphasized how he was very close to his father, stating:
“I have not asked him that, but my dad, from how I know him since go‑karting, is very outspoken and he is not a liar, that is for sure. My dad and I are very close. We call every day.”
The endpoint of this whole saga is still some distance away, and it will be interesting to see if it affects how Max Verstappen approaches the second race weekend of the year.
