LEWIS HAMILTON was “aggressive and insulting” in his X-rated outburst to Mercedes at the Dutch Grand Prix, according to F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve.
The Silver Arrows opted to pit George Russell and put him on faster tyres with Hamilton leading the race.
The move allowed Max Verstappen to close the gap on the seven-time champion – and the Red Bull man went on to win the race, with Russell second and the fuming Hamilton only fourth.
Hamilton told his team: “I can’t believe you screwed me like that, I can’t tell you how p****d I am,” later saying on his radio: “That was the biggest f*** up.”
But Villeneuve, who won the F1 world championship in 1997, remains unimpressed with the Brit’s post-race comments.
Speaking in his Formule1.nl column, he said: “I was amazed by Lewis Hamilton’s outburst in the race and especially the way it was done.
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“He was aggressive, almost insulting. It is good that he has apologised, but this is not befitting a champion.
“After everything the team has done for him, you shouldn’t be speaking to them like that.”
Hamilton later apologised to his Mercedes team, insisting he was on the “edge of breaking point with emotions” and that the team understood it was a sign of his “passion” for the sport.
And he then added to that on his Instagram story, saying: “We are a team Mercedes, we are world champions and we don’t always get it right.
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“I didn’t get it right last week and we didn’t get it right today (Sunday), but we win and lose as a team.
“We have been through worse. Everyone is doing their best and that’s all we can do.
“We will rise and win again. I have 100% faith in this team and where we are heading,”
Hamilton is yet to win a race this season and sits sixth in the drivers’ championship.
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Meanwhile, Verstappen’s 10th win of 2022 takes him 109 points clear of Charles Leclerc as he closes in on a second successive title.
With seven races remaining, the Dutchman needs to claim four more victories to eclipse Sebastian Vettel’s record of most wins in a single season – which currently stands at 13.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
