It has been brought to Max Verstappen’s attention that Lewis Hamilton can barely permit himself to refer to him by name. The antagonism goes back to last year’s crash-punctuated title fight that only partly ended in the controversy of the last race Abu Dhabi, where Verstappen was helped by the withdrawal of a safety car to pass Hamilton on the final lap. ‘People have told me that he doesn’t use my name,’ said Verstappen, with a smile, in an interview with The Mail on Sunday. ‘I know it is not only the car he has been driving. Verstappen said: ‘Fame was not anything I looked into when I was a kid. I can hardly think of the last time I could do that in a major city. People can say what they like, but I am here to perform.’.

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