Verstappen in focus as Hamilton eyes hat-trick

Formula One is braced for the next episode of the Max Verstappen show as Red Bull’s teen sensation heads for Ferrari’s home circuit only days after making the Italian team’s drivers see red.

While triple world champion Lewis Hamilton is aiming for his 50th grand prix win on Sunday, to become the first since Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s to win three years in a row at Monza, Verstappen will be the talk of the town.

“I told him not to tell anyone where he is staying in Monza because there might be a few angry fans,” team boss Christian Horner joked after a controversial Belgian Grand Prix last weekend.

The 18-year-old tangled with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel at the start before aggressively defending against the former in the race and then refusing to accept any criticism.

“I think they should be ashamed to cause a crash like that with their amount of experience and then complain about me,” the unrepentant Dutchman said.

“Vettel can come and talk to me (at Monza), but I think he first has to realise what he did in turn one.”

Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion for Ferrari, warned afterwards that Verstappen’s late block that forced the Finn to brake on the straight at Spa could have triggered a big accident.

Monza is even faster, with the turbo hybrid cars hitting 360 km per hour on the straight, and Sunday’s race promises another battle between Ferrari and Red Bull to be best of the rest behind leaders Mercedes.

While Verstappen has thrilled fans, with the youngster busy rewriting the record books after winning in Spain and starting on the front row in Belgium, there are those who feel limits need to be set. “He comes in here, no fear and no respect,” said Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff in Spa.