The Dutchman was determined to win one over his title rival, and visiting a track that was brand new on the calendar provided the perfect opportunity for him to increase the points margin in his favour at the final race.<\/p>\n
Except everything would boil over in the race, with Hamilton and Verstappen<\/a> clashing on track, Toto Wolff throwing a headset, and another heated moment between the Dutchman and Hamilton\u2019s long-time trainer, according to Verstappen\u2019s performance coach, Bradley Scanes, on the High Performance<\/a> podcast. <\/p>\n Hamilton was already giving Verstappen extra margin if he tried an overtake at this stage of the title battle, having come close to colliding in Brazil. <\/p>\n When Verstappen attempted to overtake him for the lead into the tight Turn 1 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, both drivers ran off track. Race Control instructed Verstappen to give the position back to Hamilton, but had not told Mercedes before giving the message to Red Bull.<\/p>\n This meant Mercedes were unaware that Verstappen was about to slow down at 180mph along the back straight between Turns 26 and 27, and the pair collided. It caused a frenzy in the garages, while it also generated a frosty atmosphere between the two title rivals in the post-race cool-down room. <\/p>\n \u201cOur lowest point in 2021 was after Saudi. We hadn\u2019t won for four races in a row and Lewis is back equal on points. Saudi was a bit of a blow-up because it was a new track, and it was super hot. There were three red flags, three incidents between Max and Lewis. We\u2019ve gone into the cool-down room, so Lewis P1 and Max P2,\u201d said Scanes. <\/p>\n \u201cI remember Angela [Cullen] who was Lewis\u2019 performance coach, me and her are very good friends now and we\u2019ve worked together in the last couple of years, but I remember her not shouting but forcefully saying something like \u2018You\u2019re going to get someone killed out there\u2019 or something like that and them two just went into a different room. <\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t remember who is P3, but they were just sitting there thinking, \u2018What is going on between Lewis and Max?\u2019 So after that race, we needed to calm everything down.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"F1](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1357322334-1024x644.jpg\")
Photo by Mark Thompson\/Getty ImagesAngela Cullen left furious after Max Verstappen\u2019s clash with Lewis Hamilton in Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n